happy go lucky wedding

OK, so we are all hoping to be beautiful and glowing on our wedding day, but really, who has lots of money for different treatments?  Um…not me.  Well, recently I heard of some different beautification techniques that are really cheap, and can be done with items you likely already have around your house.  So what problems will I tackle: Under eye circles, puffiness, tightening of pores, softening of the skin, acne, environmental damage, and aging.  Wow, sounds like a hefty list, right?  I hope the tips and tricks I have for you will be beneficial. 

Here’s how I looked before all my beautification began:

First up: Acne, softening of the skin and tightening of pores via an Aspirin Mask. 

What you need: 

Just one bottle of generic uncoated aspirin (about $3) and water.

 How to make it:  

1.  Put 4-6 uncoated (very important) aspirin in a small bowl and crush them into a powder.  It doesn’t have to be super fine, just make sure it’s good and broken up.

2.  Add 3 drops of warm water and mix to form a paste.  If it’s too thick and clumpy, add more water.

3.  Spread the mixture over your face and neck.  Wait about 10 minutes for it to dry.

4.  To remove, pat warm water over your face and start to massage your face in small circles, using the aspirin granules as an exfoliant.  Rinse the rest off and admire your gorgeously glowing complexion.

NOTE:  This mask can be messy as bits of the aspirin can flake off your face.  Try to stay in one place so you don’t leave a trail of white powder all over your house.

What at home beauty secrets do you have?

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I’ve found myself focusing a lot on the wedding and not as much on the whole reason behind it all.  Not that I don’t realize that I’m marrying this person, but it’s so easy to get caught up in the little details like what shade of green I want my font to be, and not focus on the important thing like why I decided to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful person.  So for now, I am going to stop and reflect on why I love Mr. Fro Yo.

In no particular order, here are some of the reasons:

1. He cut 15 more of our place card holders when I was at work and surprised me with them when I got home.
2. He brings home leftover vegetarian Thai food from his work for me (no one eats the tofu, and I love it).
3. He plays with my hair as I lay in his lap almost every night.
4. He doesn’t get mad when I suck at video games and cause his character to die because he’s trying to rescue me.
5. He watches cheesy shows (like 90210 the new season) with me and doesn’t complain (I think he secretly likes them).
6. He gives the dog a bath when she rolls in poop.
7. He drives through the snow to be with me on Christmas Eve.  I went to Dallas ahead of him and he stayed in Austin to work for a few extra days and what do you know, it actually snowed in Texas and he still made it! (For those of you not from Texas, it turns into a ghost town when snow hits because we don’t know how to drive in it, doesn’t matter if it’s just 1 inch). 
8. He cut envelope liners with me and I didn’t even have to ask him to.
9. He knows what envelope liners are.
10. He’s never said anything meaner to me than “You’re being a little unreasonable” when clearly I am being a little more than unreasonable.
11. He plays with my nieces and has fun doing it.
12. He’s frugal, but recognizes I’m not like him and he’s (usually) ok with that.
13. He’s got his routine, but he’s willing to break it and try new things.
14. He doesn’t make me feel bad about being hungover, even though he’s never been hungover in his life and I most definitely did drink too much the night before and brought it on myself.
15. He lets me be bossy sometimes.
16. He encourages my independence and realizes when I just need some “me” time.
17. He holds my hand and makes me feel safe when he can tell I’m nervous.
18. He makes dinner with me nearly every night, and when he doesn’t it is because we’re doing take out.
19. He wakes up in the middle of the night with me when I have nightmares (which is far too often for any normal adult).
20. He makes me want to be a better person.

What are some of the reasons you love your fiance/husband?

P.S. La La Love Weddingbee was the title of the email I sent to Pengy when I applied. 🙂

Several weeks ago I received my envelopes from my awesome invitation designer.  She had them ready so she sent them to me while she was working on printing the invites.  This was great for me because it gave me some time to decorate them before the invitations arrived. 

I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow…er….sorry, any Whitney Houston fans?  Anyway, I decided long ago that I was going to do something to decorate the envelopes, but I was really nervous about making my own envelope liners.  Primarily because I’d seen so many amazing ones around the hive; I was worried mine wouldn’t measure up and that I wouldn’t be able to pull it off.  Well, I’m here to tell you that seriously, anyone can do this, even the non-crafty bride. 

So I went to Michael’s and picked up some supplies.  I got some scrapbook paper for my liners (not sure what anyone else uses, but it was cheap, big and the right color), glue stick, and doublesided tape. 

I went home and made myself a template to use for all the other liners:

(not the pattern I used, it was scrap paper)

Then I traced out 3 liners per scrapbook paper sheet:

I cut out each one (don’t have a picture of that), and then applied the doublesided tape to the top, and the glue to the rest:

(if you look closely you can see the doublesided tape right around the top “roof” part).

Then I inserted each one and rubbed it to make sure the adhesive would stick, and here’s what I got:

I have several different patterns, but each one fits with my color scheme.  I am super excited about how this project turned out, and I would highly recommend that if you are thinking about doing this, go for it!  It was a very cheap project and I think it adds some great detail. 

Did you decide to make your own envelope liners?  How did your project turn out?

OK, so this weekend I decided to do a little searching for some bridal accessories.  Not that I don’t do this most weekends, but this time I succeeded in finding some great stuff!  Recently, a giant Forever 21 opened not too far from my house (if you live in Austin, it’s at the Domain and holy crap is it huge).  I never thought to look for bridal accessories there, but why not?  It’s super affordable and trendy.  Ready to see what I got?

First up, a bracelet:

I love that it looks vintage; I think it will go so well with my dress and the overall feel of the wedding.  Best of all, it was about $5.  🙂

Up next, some hair clips:

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I’m not planning on wearing these on our wedding day, but I thought maybe for the rehearsal dinner or some other wedding shower.  Mostly, they were too cute to pass up, and only about $4. 

Up next, a gorgeous headband:

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This headband was so adorable, I couldn’t pass it up either. One of my bridesmaids is making me a headband to wear on our wedding day, but this one will be worn to one of the other many bridal events.  Oh, and it was less than $4!

Did you have luck finding inexpensive accessories at an unlikely place?

Um…hello.  (crickets)

I’m not very good at public speaking, but I guess I’ll just jump right in. 

How did I find Weddingbee?

I am an official venue stalker, just like Miss Cola, and one of the many venue stalking days, I was googling my little heart out and I came across this girl named Mrs. Apple.  What?  So I clicked and realized that there were so many posts about her wedding, and it was all at my venue.  Score!!  And then I realized that not only was Mrs. Apple a weddingbee blogger, but so were a lot of other awesome girls.  I was officially hooked.  But, although I went to weddingbee daily and clicked refresh more times than I care to admit, I was not a girl who commented often.  Entering a blog community is overwhelming, and I was just a little scared to take the plunge and comment. 

My application story:

I started a blog shortly after we got engaged in March and I didn’t apply to weddingbee until August.  When I initially started blogging, it was not with the intent of applying to weddingbee.   To be honest, I didn’t even know if I was going to tell anyone about my blog.  I kept it a big secret for a while and let my ideas and voice develop.   Slowly I grew more confident about my blog and started telling some friends.  The response I got was really positive, so then I started telling a few more people.  My blog was most definitely my place to organize my thoughts and ideas and I would even send links to vendors so that they could understand what I was hoping to achieve on our wedding day. 

My photographer read my blog often and told me that she thought I had real potential. I thought it was sweet, but just put aside her comments and kept doing what I was doing.  Well, then Pengy posted about the new generation of bees and I got excited about all the junk food options and started thinking that maybe I should apply.  The night I applied, Mr. Fro Yo and I went out to dinner and I had a couple margaritas and got the courage to go home and apply.  When I filled out my application, I just said the first things that came to mind and didn’t dwell on it (which I think was a good thing).  Who knows, maybe I have the shortest application in weddingbee history, but it worked!  Then I ran around the house saying “I hope they pick me” over and over.  I was pretty sure that Mr. Fro Yo hoped they did too so that I would shut up.  I applied on a Saturday night and got an email on Monday morning saying I was a bee!  I couldn’t believe it!  I could not stop smiling the entire day. 

On being a Weddingbee Blogger:

My first day as a bee was one of the most exciting days ever.  I was on cloud nine waiting for my post to go up.  Once it did and everyone was so welcoming I was hooked on comments!  People warned that maybe I would get some snarky comments so I should just brace myself, but for some reason I just thought, “nope, I won’t get bothered.”  Well, so my first snarky comment definitely had me a little sad.  Ok, a lot sad.  But seriously this has been such an amazing experience and I feel very lucky.  There are so many times that I was uncertain about how to accomplish something, or needed help deciding which item to choose and the wonderful girls here have  pointed me in the right direction.  Oftentimes too, girls will PM me and ask me a question about something I’ve blogged about, or share their experience or advice with me, and I am so appreciative.   I love hearing from all of you and your comments are definitely much appreciated!  It’s sad, but when a post of mine gets very few comments, I start to think that my ideas are boring.  But, I think that sometimes post topics just have to hit you at the right time in your planning process to speak to you, so I’m working on not thinking I’m lame because 25 people didn’t say “good job, Fro Yo!”

Tips for writing for the ’bee:

I don’t know that I have any ideas that haven’t already been shared, but I’ll try my best:

1. Be yourself.  There are so many different personalities, ideas, and interests around the blog, someone is going to identify with you and your ideas.  Don’t try to write like someone else you’ve seen because people want to get to know you and your ideas.  Plus, you won’t be able to keep up your fake persona in every post, and why would you want to?
2. Use pictures, and more pictures to represent the ideas your blogging about.  Oh, and credit these photos so that you don’t have to go back and find the sources for all the photos you used before you were a bee and too lazy to credit things because you didn’t think anyone was going to read your blog anyway.  They might, so it’s worth it.  My intro day was delayed because I had to do that and it took FOREVER. 
3. Realize that blogging takes time (like this post, I think I’ve been working on for about an hour and it’s not even long).  So know that it’s a time commitment, and readers do get upset when you’re gone for long periods of time.
4. Start posts as you think of them and leave them in draft form.  I do this ALL the time.  I’ll think of post idea, but then forget it about 5 minutes later.  One way I avoid doing that is to just start a post and write something so small, like “being a bridesmaid and a bride” or “Mr. Fro Yo’s ring”  and then I’ll fill in the rest later. 
5. Don’t think you need to be a crafting genius like Martha to be a bee.  I’m the most craft challenged bride, and somehow I got picked.  So don’t avoid applying because of that.  We need all type of bees around here.  Even the ones that rely on Etsy for their crafting items, like me. 
6. Lastly, don’t get discouraged. Period.  Many of the bees applied a couple times.  Afterward, they went back, reworked some posts and tried again, and I’m so glad they did. 

If I was one of my vendors, I would probably be frustrated with me.  See, I am one of those people who doesn’t know how to say no.  Like ever.  But really I have an opinion; I  am just too scared of hurting people’s feelings to voice it. 

Let me give you an example: Say I have a vision in my head for my flowers, and I’m trying to communicate that to my florist, but then she suggests something that sounds awesome, but maybe isn’t the actual direction I’m hoping to go.  Doesn’t matter. I can’t tell her no.  Why?  Well, I don’t want to hurt her feelings.  That sounds so irrational, but it’s the truth!

Well, yesterday I decided I was going to email Kristen and ask for a change.  See, in the beginning she recommended using trumpet vases for some of our centerpieces (those that won’t be manzanita). 

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Sounds lovely, right?  But, I wanted something more quaint, less grand. Like this:

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I asked her yesterday in this very mousey email (no offense, Mouse!) “Um…do you think maybe we might be able to change the vases for the centerpieces?  I mean, I love the trumpet ones, but um…I sort of kind of  like a different kind better. But, I mean, you’re the expert, so yeah, if you think that would look terrible, just let me know, I mean you would know better than me.”   OMG, I’m so lame!!  But she wrote me back and was like, “Of course we can work in what you like!”  Phew!  Why couldn’t I do that in the beginning?

Do you have a hard time speaking up about what you want?

We all want white teeth for our weddings, right?  Well, since I’m signed up for god knows how many different discount websites (Gilt Groupe, HauteLook, Ideeli, etc), I constantly get  emails about discounted products, clothing and jewelry.  Most of them are great, but sometimes they are still out of my price range. 

However, recently HauteLook had a sale on the Go Smile teeth whitening kit (I think they’re doing it again this week).  I got 2 of them (one for me, one for Mr. Fro Yo) for super cheap!  Now, I’d never used this before, but I’d seen it at Sephora, and I usually love their products.

The box arrived and it looked like this:

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Then I opened it up and saw all of these:

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The kit directions said that you need to use each one of the little ampoules morning and night for 2 minutes over the course of 7 days.  Not too bad at all.  Surprisingly, the liquid did not taste too much like peroxide.  Which is a good thing because you can’t rinse out your mouth after use.  And, using it for just 2 minutes a day was really easy.  It was even kind of fun because you get to squeeze them to activate the liquid and they make a big pop sound.  I also did not notice any teeth sensitivity while using. 

So the results?  I’ll break it out into good and bad.

The Good

No teeth sensitivity

Doesn’t taste that bad

2 minutes twice a day is really easy

Fun to pop open

The Bad

I felt like my teeth had a film on them right after, and brushing or rinsing after use is not allowed.  So I had to go to bed and to work with some liquid film on my teeth (looked kind of foamy, like a rabid dog for the first couple minutes, sexy!).

The results weren’t really dramatic.  I did notice that my teeth were slightly whiter, but not significantly so. 

So would I recommend?  I don’t think so.  I got this massively discounted, but if I paid full price, I would have been really disappointed. 

Today I logged onto The Knot to see that my wedding is just a little over 100 days away, and the panic set in.   Then I decided to click on my To Do List, and a page opened up with a lot of alarm clocks indicating that I have not accomplished many of the items on my checklist.   Many of them were about the traditional tasks such as ordering tuxes for the guys or deciding on the perfect accessories for my maids, but the first one staring back at me said: Start taking better care of yourself. Get in wedding day shape by eating right, joining a gym, and/or even hiring a personal trainer.  So basically, I’m a fatass and need to be sure I get skinny quick for my wedding. 

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I get it, we all want to look amazing on our wedding day, but the pressure to be thin and look perfect for our weddings is overwhelming.  I even found a study published in Science Direct  about this very thing.  The article indicted that over 50% of participants planned to lose weight before the wedding, 40% intended to go on a diet, and around 67% indicated that they planned to exercise more.  Sadly, more than 10% of participants were told by others that they should lose weight for the wedding.  Both brides and bridesmaids said that looking good for the wedding photos was their number one reason for wanting to lose weight.

After reading the Knot checklist, I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror and started noticing all my flaws.  I’ve already had body issues; but really, who doesn’t?  It’s extremely hard for me not to buy into the need to be skinny, especially because my wedding is rapidly approaching.  I’m healthy, I do something physical everyday, but for some reason that doesn’t seem to be enough for my wedding.  I’m feeling the pressure (mostly from myself) to lose major weight and get rid of all my problem areas. 

I decided that I need to reframe my way of thinking and focus on being healthy and happy about my body, but I know this will be a challenge for me.  Anyone else feeling the pressure to be thin? How do you handle it?

Have you ever found a photo of an item that is absolutely perfect for your wedding, but then you’re unable to find said item from the photo?  Well, that happens to me all the time.  For one, there is an unbelievable amount of talent around weddingbee and the many blogs I read, and a lot of these talented women make the items they photograph.  That’s just not an option for this non-crafty bride.  Secondly, I always seem to be a tad bit too late to bid on an item and then they’re gone.  An example?  This:

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Need a closer look?

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I searched EVERYWHERE for vintage table numbers, and then I found these.  I was so excited!!  Upon further inspection, I found out that they were for sale on the weddingbee classifieds.  Even better!!  Um…yeah, they were for sale 5 months ago and are obviously not still around.   GRRR….but now I have this perfect image in my head of the exact item I want and I can’t find it anywhere. 

So I’ve come to you all my friends, where oh where might I find vintage metal numbers that can stand up on their own?  Also, is it totally sad that I spend my time googling “vintage metal numbers”?  I kind of think it is.