albumtime

Something lovely arrived at our home several weeks ago:


It came beautifully wrapped in a velvety bag, and stuffed carefully in a fancy box...

our wedding album!

Just about a year later and the album is finally complete! I am a total slacker and took over eight months to pick out my favorite photos, but once that was finished our photographer, Jordana, got the album ball rolling super quick, and a mere six weeks later it was in our grubby little hands.

We decided to forgo the usual leather cover (as vegans we don't wear/eat/purchase animal products... yadda yadda yadda) and instead chose a SUPER AWESOME FUNTIME yellow fabric cover. It is so soft and so yellow and so perfect.


The photo part isn't half bad either... :)




I love how it lays flat when open...


And because we aren't really name & date people:



It was nice to get a little burst of wedding memories a year later!

this tornado loves you, redux.

I posted my final weddingbee blog last night! The end of an era, I think. Check it out here if you are so inclined. This blog will still be updated with wedding goodness whenever the idea strikes. I also have about a hundred vendor reviews and tutorials half written and almost ready to post.

I have been pouring my time into my personal blog project: No, Not Literally.

And now, without further ado, my final wedding recap:


B and I left our wedding exhausted but ecstatic. When our cab pulled up to the hotel, I breathed a sigh of relief. Even the huge line outside the hotel's rooftop club didn't get me down. We hopped out of the cab, handed our bags (minus the cake, which we weren't handing to anyone!) over to the doorman, thanked everyone who stopped to congratulate us, and grabbed an elevator up to our suite.

Finally, situated in our room, we ate dessert. And appetizers. In our wedding clothes. Then we jumped on the bed. In our wedding clothes. For a while... like, fifteen minutes of blissed-out, post-wedding bed jumping.



We also got cheesy and posed for each other.


By the time I finally peeled off my wedding dress (and spanx: ladies, they really are comfortable for 12 hour stretches!) it was past our bedtime. Luckily, we didn't leave for our honeymoon until midnight the next night. B and I spent a good amount of time lying in bed and just talking about being married, and then it was lights out time. You know, the good kind of lights out time.

And there you have it. Our wedding story, from top to bottom, the good and the bad. I've laid it all out on the table and had a great time sharing with everyone. Thank you for following along and sharing with me too!

local vintage dresses.

(source)

While browsing one of my daily must read blogs (The Eastsider) I came across these delicious vintage wedding dresses, being sold locally in an Echo Park vintage shop. Luckily, not only are they available at the store front, but also in this super cute etsy shop. The two above are my favorite, but there are several others available.

It just seems like I can't get away from weddingstylebrain, even though my wedding planning ended long ago! I see gorgeous and inspirational things everywhere these days. I would like some friends to get married soon so that I can start planning their weddings... (joking, joking).

we left early (you can too).

As it was nearing the end of the night, and festivities were winding down, I suddenly realized that I was exhausted. Beyond exhausted. Like, falling down on the floor and sleeping right there exhausted. I felt like collapsing. Apparently someone agreed:


BUT then, then I realized that B and I hadn't taken any photobooth pictures as a couple, so we ran over there for a few moments.

Then our photographer snagged us for a few last minute shots.


Then we got distracted by the Smiths and danced some more.

Then I probably had another drink (or two).

Then some guests started leaving, and we gave hugs and said goodbyes.

Then our photographer left and we gave hugs and said goodbyes.

Then our videographer left and we gave hugs and said goodbyes.

Then we might have danced a little bit more because I can't help myself.

Then finally, I turned to B and whined that we needed to leave, like, now.

We weren't the first to go (most of the people there with small children had already left) but we definitely weren't the last. Most of my family was there still, as were a few straggling dancers and a few straggling drinkers, too!


At first I felt a little weird about leaving before everyone else, so I cornered our DOC and I told her my concern.

"It's your wedding, do what you want!" was her fantastic reply. Someone must have called us a cab, because the next thing I knew we were sitting amongst a ton of junk in the back of a van-cab. The cab was packed! We had our overnight bag, a bottle of champagne and a HUGE cardboard box filled with the food and dessert that we didn't eat (which we totally scarfed down as soon as we got to the hotel).

I couldn't believe it was over. And I can't believe my recaps are almost over! Just a few more to go...

Did you leave your wedding early, or were you the last to go?

All photos in this post: Hazelnut Photography

just get over it.

Now that my recaps are just about finished, and I have talked on and on about how fun, relaxing, and delicious my wedding day was, I need to be honest and spell out all of the junk that went wrong. I'm not going to lie to you... things will go wrong! You probably won't even realize most of it until the next day, or the next week, and you just have to not let it bum you out. I let a few things get to me, until I convinced myself it was just a wedding, just one single day, and I made myself move on!

So here it is. My list of what went wrong. Hopefully it is as amusing to you as it is to me:

1. I forgot the photobooth props. Not a big deal at all, and totally my fault. Luckily the items have been passed on to another bride, and I hope she gets use out of them! I got over this pretty quickly.

2. My makeup artist canceled. Three days before the wedding, my makeup artist told me she could no longer make it. Luckily, my amazing hairstylist stepped in and did all the hair and makeup. She rules. I got over this as soon as I had my stylist booked for makeup too. :)

3. My programs were horribly ugly. I am not joking here. We waited until the last minute to choose readings and songs, so I had to wait until the last minute to do programs. I really wanted to include the song lyrics and the reading text in them, so I had an elaborate scheme to gocco 5 page booklets. Yeah, that didn't happen. We ended up with a hideously xeroxed booklet of plain white paper, sloppily cut and stapled together. DIY fail. Luckily, I don't care about programs so I got over it pretty quickly. My mom, not so quickly.

4. Our out of town bags got invaded... by ants. Two days before the wedding, I went to drop the OOT bags off at the hotel. I picked a box up and felt a little itch on my arm. Then another. And another. I looked down: my arm was covered in ants. No, wait, the boxes were covered in ants. And so were all of the bags. Apparently, some of our food bars weren't factory sealed properly, and got invaded while they were chilling in the corner of our living room. I had to toss all of the food, and the bags filled with goodies were so covered in ants (both dead and alive!) that they weren't salvageable. I had a mini meltdown until I realized no one would notice missing OOT bags since they weren't expecting OOT bags. So, we had no OOT bags! And no one cared! And I got over it.

5. Our site manager canceled four days before the wedding. The person who knew more about our wedding setup, execution, and venue than anyone, left me a voicemail to tell me he would no longer be able to be at the wedding. After promising me, in writing, that he would be there, another event "suddenly came up." I totally cried. This was my freakout moment. I was livid. I called my DOC and she told me to be calm, everything would be fine. And guess what? It was. And although I would never, ever, ever deal with this management company again, I got over it.

6. There was a giant rabbit fur/skin on the couch and a deer head on the wall. Even though we were told the deer head would be taken down for our wedding, it wasn't. Luckily, I didn't spot the rabbit skin (which was on the couch in the bridal suite), as our stylist told someone to get rid of it before I saw it. Dead animal skins make me sad, guys, and I didn't want to be sad on my wedding day. There was nothing I could do about the deer, so I let it go, and got over it.

7. I speedwalked down the aisle. The aisle was super short anyway, and my fast walking meant that we only got to hear about 15 seconds of my favorite song ever. Kind of a bummer, but... oh well. I didn't even think about this until I saw our video, so it was a get-over-it-post-wedding situation. Easily gotten over!

8. I totally dropped a ton of DIY projects. Drink stirrers? Not gonna happen. Terrarium centerpieces? Too bad. No one noticed, and our tables were super full of food and stuff, so none of this mattered. Glad I let it go!

9. Some of the food wasn't what we asked for. We had smashed potatoes with veggies on the menu, and got whole, un-smashed purple potatoes instead. We asked for a "normal person food"-type of pasta lasagna, and got a zuchini-noodle casserole instead. Luckily, it all tasted good. So I let it go.

10. Someone handed me a bouquet and told me to toss it. We had no plans for a bouquet or garter toss. Suddenly, towards the end of the night, someone handed me a bouquet and told me the DJ was getting ready to start the song (you know, that one... Single Ladies). Totally confused, I gave the flowers a halfhearted throw. Apparently, the DJ and photographer both panicked because they had no idea it was happening. I didn't know it was happening either. Anyway, I got over it and let it go.

11. My mom tried to buy a truckload of Diet Coke two hours before the ceremony. My well meaning mother, who knew of our entire drink/bar menu for the past several months, looked around as she was getting her hair done and asked "where's the diet soda?" I re-informed her that we didn't drink diet soda (or any soda, really) and as such we weren't providing said soda. There would be two kinds of unsweetened iced tea, coffee and good ol' diet friendly water for those watching their sugar intake. My mom had her very own bridezilla moment and practically ran out the door to buy up a car full of diet coke. I calmly told her to GTFO of my dressing room before I exploded. Amazingly, she got over it by the time I opened the door again (perhaps someone kindly informed her to get over it? And she did.) I got over it, and like to laugh about it, a lot.

12. Our sendoff was lackluster. Or, well, nonexistent. I didn't plan anything special (confetti! sparklers! MAGICAL DOVES!) for our sendoff, and then regretted it immensely. Instead, we just kinda left. Which was fine at the time. But I really wish I had memories (and photos) of all of our guests gathering around us and showering us with something sparkly and filled with love. I have to admit, I am still trying to get over this one...


I hope some of these made you laugh at their ridiculousness. I certainly laughed about most of them. The thing is, because there is so much planning involved in a typical wedding, there is so much room for something to go wrong. I really, truly believe that the best thing to do is just let it go. I know, I know... it is easier said than done. After I let go of all of the minor (and not so minor) things that happened, I had much better memories of my wedding day.

Did any funny things go wrong at your wedding? Please do tell!

edible, growable, flammable!

I know most people don't care about favors. Or, to clarify, most wedding guests don't care about favors. Honestly, only brides and wedding bloggers give a crap about favors, and you don't need to make any. (Do as I say, not as I do!) But I really cared about favors. I got totally into our favors and loved them and spent hours creating/perfecting/packaging them!

Am I crazy enough to have three different favors?

Yes, I am, since variety is the spice of life and all. I wanted to do a little play on words and our favorite songs, and ended up with Edible, Flammable and Growable favors. I might have made up the word "growable." You can see how I made my super cute wood printed boxes here, and if you are interested in the jars I used, you can purchase them here! They were fairly inexpensive, and I have been reusing them for various crafts and storage since the wedding.

Our DOC set the piles of boxes up on a gorgeous wood table just inside the entrance of the venue. It was the first thing guests saw after they got past the doorman (although, unfortunately, not the last thing they saw at the end of the night... more on this later).

Just above the table was a super awesome vertical garden arrangement in a wooly pocket. Simply stunning. I wish my walls at home looked like this.

Because it is all in the details when it comes to these things, here is exactly what we gave out:

Favor One - EDIBLE "Oh, please put your tongue away!"

This favor was so simple, and so delicious! Candied almonds from Costco ($10 a bag, and we used two bags) scooped into the apothecary glasses, tied up with twine, stuffed in a box, and voila!



Favor Two - FLAMMABLE "There is a light and it never goes out."

I managed to stuff three mini candles in my favorite scent (pumpkin!) and two packs of customized matches into the jars. Even though I thought this would be the least popular favor, it was actually the most popular!


Favor Three - GROWABLE "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be."

This was absolutely, 100%, my favorite favor. Its the favor that keeps on giving (aka growing)- a tiny succulent cutting, along with directions for care. Planted in rich soil and held down with teeny, tiny green rocks, this favor was seriously adorable. Also, this one received the most compliments. I had several people e-mail me after the wedding to ask where I bought them!

(photo by me)

So, in theory, at the end of the night our guests would saunter past the table, gasp in delight at my craftiness, and pick out one or two of the favors. I made enough so that each couple could take one of each, hoping that it would all even out and there would be enough to go around. Let me tell you, there was plenty. In fact, I am pretty sure many guests did not pick up favors. I think that by placing them opposite the front entrance, they were easily missed on the way out! Or everyone was too drunk to notice by the end of the night! Which isn't too bad for me, 'cause I ended up eating a lot of candied almonds, and I will never have to buy a box of matches for the rest of my life :)
In retrospect, I should have gone with the typical route and placed favors next to each place setting at the dining tables. It would have looked cute on the tables and perhaps been more noticeable to guests. Just another wedding lesson learned!

All photos in this post (unless otherwise noted): Hazelnut Photography

list.

I love love love this list of possible first dance songs.

cupcakes.

My thoughts on sweets? Go big or go home. If I am going to eat a big white flour/sugar/fat mess, I want it to taste amazing, and I probably want to eat a lot of it. Don't you?!

Remember when I said I was going to make all of my own cupcakes for the wedding? Well, I pulled it off. I also made just about a million cookies. I was smart enough to hire someone to make a couple of cakes and a pie (for some reason I can bake a mean cupcake, but whenever I try to make a full size cake it ends up being a huge kitchen disaster!), and one of our friends made an apple crisp. Lets just say we had a lot of yummy dessert.

The following food porn is all vegan and all delicious:

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting


Black Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream and Raspberry Puree Filling


Coconut Chocolate Cream Pie


Peanut Butter Cups


Chocolate Chip Cookies (using the classic Tollhouse recipe, veganized!)



Lemon Macadamia Nut Cupcakes


Red Velvet Cupcakes with Fluffy White Buttercream Frosting


Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

The dessert buffet presentation came together quite well, if you ask me!







When it came time to cut it up, we decided to go with a cupcake.

I love how my cousin is looking on so longingly at the desserts!

We got a little confused and twisted up in the arm department.

And we made it! Cake in mouth success!

That tiny bite is the only cake I managed to eat that night. After swallowing it my stomach turned, so I grabbed another drink (always a good idea when your stomach revolts from sugar) and headed back to the dance floor!

A lot of people told me I couldn't, or shouldn't, make cupcakes for my own wedding! I am super proud that I pulled it off. I am so happy that I went ahead and did it anyway! Trusting your gut usually pays off.

All photos in this post: Hazelnut Photography

danced myself out of the womb.

Dance dance DANCE. Really, that is all I wanted to do at our wedding (besides the obvious, getting married part). Way back in the planning stages, when I was thinking about evening entertainment, I considered other things to keep people occupied. Like, performance artists and portrait drawers and such. But that would have been overkill. We had a great DJ, a photobooth and tons of booze. That should be enough!


I have to admit, I was worried about having a packed dance floor. In fact, I worried about this all the time before the wedding. I had dreams about it. Honestly, I shouldn't have stressed. Although it wasn't always packed, there were at least a few people out there all night, and at times it was fairly crowded. We really didn't have a very dance-y crowd though, and in a way I think we disappointed our DJ. At one point he pulled us aside and said he was doing everything he could to get people to dance, but that it was just a mellow crowd. I told him not to worry about it, that I wasn't bothered, and 15 people on the dance floor was better than none. And the main thing? I danced all night! Literally, all night long. I only left the dance floor to cut cake, get drinks, pop in the 'booth, and I may have ran to the bathroom, once. Maybe. I really, really like to dance.

Luckily, some of our guests like to dance, too. (You might also notice that Morrissey likes to dance, as we played his videos over and over throughout the night, on the big screen above the dance floor.)

Tween boys are pretty amazing dancers!

So are the girls :)

Who knows what move I am perfecting here.

My Aunt K is the life of EVERY party that she goes to. She is infamous for dancing at our family weddings!

It doesn't get much better than this.

Seconds after this shot, he was break dancing on the floor.

Please familiarize yourself with Aunt K again, you will see more about her below!

B and I singing along to some song (probably the Smiths).

Toward the night, something magical happened.B and I were getting ready to leave (yes, we left our own wedding reception before it was over - we were tired!), but we were out on the dance floor jamming to a couple of slower songs before jetting out. Our DJ started spinning a new song and suddenly, one of the (super cute and very nice) waiters started dancing with Aunt K. It was a sight to behold. When we watched the video later my family was in hysterics! It was fun! So much fun, that I made a one minute video clip, just for y'all to giggle at (the best parts start at about 40 seconds in!):



Aunt K's daughter, my cousin, is getting married this summer. I can't wait to enjoy more of her fabulous skills out on the dance floor.

Do you have any wacky relatives that just love to strut their stuff on the dance floor at every event? Or are you the wacky one??!


All photos in this post: Hazelnut Photography
Video: Josh Kun