Wednesday, July 28, 2010

A Mature Missus

The Pin Cushions got married. And I think being a married woman, a decidedly adult thing to be, has made me more mature.

Ha. No, not really. I'm still the same goofball I was before. Now I just have someone legally bound to say that they married this goofball.

See? There we are. One goofball marrying another.

We had a fabulous, glorious, hot, lovely, fun, wonderful and totally rad day. I cannot wait to begin re-counting everything about the wedding day. But that will have to wait . . .

Because I have so much to tell from before the wedding! My time as a Miss here on the 'Bee was too short (and perhaps I lack certain skills [organization, time management]) so I have many pre-wedding projects that I hope you'll let me share, though I'm already a Mrs.

To end this post, I'd like to add a Public Service Announcement for all outdoor brides. Wear sunscreen! By the end of the night, my shoulders looked like this:

Pink! And may I also add . . . Rawr!

Surprisingly, on your wedding day, the sun does not give you a 'free pass' to not wear sunscreen. I believed that my bridal aura would be able to kick some UV ray butt. Well, let me be the bride to tell you, that is not the case. So unless you like the lobster-look, stock up on some good SPF.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Mawwiage Is What Bwings Us Togetheh Today

It is the Pin Cushion wedding day.

It has been a whirl wind of a week. I feel as though last weekend somebody threw me into a time machine and pushed the button for one week forward. And I just tumbled out of the machine and it's Saturday and I'm not sure how I got here!

There has been a lot of crafting around the Pin Cushion wedding headquarters. Lots of this:

Getting help from my grandparents on our favors. And this . . .


Me hunched over working on something sweet for the wedding. And also lots of . . .


Friends helping us with last minute projects (like programs).

Even while I was in that time machine for the past week, the love and support we have felt from our friends and family was palpable. They have glued and cut and listened and laughed. And it has been amazing.

Today I get married. If my 16 year old self had known I would be marrying the skinny, smart boy that sat in front of me in Spanish class, I might have just keeled over out of pure bliss 10 years ago. And, with the joy that I feel today, I'd say there is still a chance of me keeling over with a fatty smile plastered on my face.

Hive, thank you for your support and love. I will be back with more craftiness and photos then you will know what to do with. Until then,

Miss Pin Cushion

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Totally Unnecessary

How many wedding items do you have that are not entirely necessary to you actually getting married?

A. 5?
B. 75% of your wedding items are unnecessary?
C. You could count the necessary items on just one foot, even if it were missing a toe or two?

I fall into that last category (because let's face it, what do you really need? An officiant, a license and a willing fiance). But some things are just so darn cute (or chic or modern [you fill in the adjective]).

Case in point:



We originally collected these adorable boxes (from a nice farmer's market vendor) with the hopes of transforming them into this:



Using the strawberry boxes to hold our centerpiece flowers didn't work out [though the image still flits around in my head [along with unicorns, and my dream of swimming in a pool of jello]).

So now I have to come up with some new way to use them (I've grown too attached to them [a human developing a strong emotional attachment to a cardboard box is totally normal, right?]). I went a little hot glue gun-crazy and lined a few of the boxes with red and white striped fabric, which you can see in the first picture. This only made me love them more.

I need your advice, dear readers. What can I do use these strawberry boxes at the wedding for? Or should I break my ties (and thus break my heart [sob]) with these cute-as-a-button boxes?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Touch, The Feel . . . The Fabric of Our Lives

In a move very apropos to my Pin Cushion moniker, our wedding is filled with fabrics. Lots of fabrics. And not soft, sophisticated, romantic fabrics. The Pin Cushion fabrics are in your face. In fact, when we brought some up to the counter at the fabric store, the cashier asked, "Whoa! What the heck are you doing with these fabrics?" Which is probably not a good question to be asked when said fabrics are for your wedding. Oh well, subtle has never been my specialty . . .


A mix of many of our fabrics. Colors! Stripes! Gingham! Crazy flowers!
We're using these to line bread baskets, wrap our favors and . . .


. . . Make cute bunting! Many hive members suggested making bunting with the extra fabric, so I went for it! We'll wrap it around our cake and guest book tables. (If the fabric patterns and the crazy color and stripes of the chair are making you dizzy, please feel free to stick your head between your knees.)


We also ordered a ton of green burlap which we made into table runners. Here is Mr. Pin Cushion watching T.V. . . I mean helping cut the burlap.

Our piles and piles of burlap runners. They shed. A lot. We looked like muppets by the end of the cutting process.


And RIBBONS! Do ribbons count as fabric? We have so much ribbon we could mummify ourselves and our entire bridal party.

Like many a bee before me, I made ribbon sticks, with the hope of running down the aisle in a shower of waving ribbons.

Like I said, subtle? No. But fun and crazy and wild? Most definitely. What aspect of your wedding is reflective of you as a person?

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Invitation Teamwork

After many deep discussions and much philosophical pondering, the Pin Cushions decided to DIY our invitations. Or perhaps it was due to our own procrastination. Nah. It's definitely the philosophy thing.

One afternoon I sat down and sketched (scrawled) out 3 invitation ideas with some very sophisticated artistic writing implements (crayons). Mr. PC played some eenie meenie miney moe to pick his favorite sketch. And then we got to work. I drank some tea while he worked on Illustrator. I nibbled on raw cookie dough while he triple checked measurements. I serenaded him with songs from "Oklahoma" while he quadruple spell checked. After all that great teamwork, here's the end result:

Hot pink envelopes! Envelope label made on Illustrator by Mr. PC.


The invite 'package', complete with twine and fabric-backed tag (with our wedding website on the other side).


Cheapest envelope liners ever. The envelopes were lined with wrapping paper found at Ikea for $0.99. Nearly blew our budget right there.


The actual invite. If you haven't noticed yet, please check out how strange the heart placement looks in the photo. That's because . . .


Our invitations are POP-UPS! All 3 of my invite ideas involved a pop-up, so Mr. PC was stuck with it, no matter where his eenie meenie-ing ended up.


Our RSVP card and envelope. All made by Mr. PC on Illustrator. I might have stopped twiddling my thumbs for a few moments to sew on the grosgrain ribbon. But I quickly returned to staring off into space.

The map to our locale. On the back are actual written directions, for people who can't read my amazing hieroglyphics.


The whole shebang, disassembled.

Mr. Pin Cushion did all of the computer design work. I lent my pen(wo)manship for the cursivey bits. I also donated the health of my hands by cutting out all those fabric coated hearts (I think I may have early onset finger arthritis).

Do you and your main squeeze have complimentary skills (like Mr. PC's computer skills and my hair twirling skills)? How do you put them to use?