Whatever Weekend – Whimsical Weddings

Okay, so that’s a lot of alliteration in the title.

Really, though, a friend of mine is planning a wedding, and it has me all nostalgic!

Tom and I have been married nearly 5 and a half years now.

Photo by Tom Thompson

Our wedding was outdoors, with simple fall decorations (lots of plum and green,) and a laid back, picnic-style atmosphere, with a pie bar instead of wedding cake.

Photo by Tom Thompson

Mmmm pie.

It also makes me nostalgic for our friend Tiinia’s wedding. She and her husband, Kevin, were married on the haunt grounds where the work on Friday the 13th. Costumes were encouraged, and the style was a delightful combo of horror and glamorous vintage.

My friend, Tessa, is planning a simple, elegant ceremony, and an Alice in Wonderland themed reception. I’m so excited to help her with decorations for the reception! I’ve loved Alice since I was a little girl, and the possibilities are practically endless.

So, I’ve been working on some inspiration boards on Polyvore.com, a site where you can create your own boards for fashion, beauty, or just for fun.

Here’s some inspiration for her bridal and ceremony style:

Then there’s the reception:

We’ll be thrifting for tea cups, saucers, and pots, clocks, rabbits, and mushrooms, next week.

If you’re planning a wedding, here are some things to keep in mind:

1. Keep a check list, and focus on marking one thing off at a time. Here’s a great list that helps you finish each to-do in time: The Knot Wedding Checklist.

2. Create a budget. Once you’ve decided what kind of venue you want (indoor or outdoor, formal or relaxed, etc.,) the kind of food you want to serve, and your wedding style, start working on your budget. If you don’t have all the money you need right now, open a savings account that you can add to each pay period to pay for upcoming costs. Use The Knot Wedding Budget along with your checklist.

3. Ask for help. Ask reliable friends and family to help with tasks you know they can manage. If you have a crafty friend, ask them to help with decorations. If you have an aunt who loves to bake, have her make edible favors, or even the wedding cake if she’s that awesome. Delegate responsibilities to your groomsmen and bridesmaids, like tailoring and dry cleaning, and the bachelor/bachelorette parties. You might feel the need to have your hand in everything to make sure it’s perfect, but it will be worth your sanity (and your beauty sleep!) to accept others’ help.

4. Enjoy your engagement. Make it a point to date during your engagement. Take time away from planning (turn off your electronics if you need to,) and just spend time with your significant other. The engagement flies by, so treasure every second!

Married? What was your wedding like? Any inspiration photos? Any advice you’d like to give brides to be?

Share the Love,

Chelsea

Vending on Haunted Grounds

I snapped some photos of our shared booth space at 13th Street Morgue/Dungeon of Doom last Friday. Stephanie and I had a lot of fun talking to people after they came (running and screaming) out of the haunted house!

Our side of the booth.

Monster embroidery and new jewelry.

Stephanie’s awesome table!

Head out to the 13th Street/Dungeon grounds for a good scare for Halloween!

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Chelsea

Join us for a good scare!

You may remember the custom orders we did for our friend, Tiinia, and her Friday the 13th wedding at a Dallas haunted house’s grounds (which was all featured on Offbeat Bride – how cool is that?)

We’ve become friends with Tiinia and her husband Kevin, who play delightfully creepy characters at 13th Street, and Alex, the owner/operator of the haunt grounds, and we’re constantly in awe of their talents!

Several weeks ago, our friend Stephanie from Studio Longoria sent me a message with a great idea. Since we (JuJu Eyeball) and another of our Etsy teammates, Amy of Larkspur Studio and Frankensister all sell Halloween appropriate items, why shouldn’t we contact some local haunted houses to see if we could set up shop on the grounds?

I instantly thought of Alex and his awesome haunts, 13th Street Morgue and Dungeon of Doom (which neighbor Reindeer Manor.)

So, I got in touch with him, and we’ll be setting up booths this Friday, 10/18, and next Friday, 10/25; we’re so excited! It’s definitely a unique job. It’s not an arts and crafts “show” or convention, and we won’t be working typical show hours, which are usually morning to mid afternoon, or afternoon to evening. Nope, we’ll be set up in time for the houses to open at 8, and we’ll close the place down around 12:30 a.m. So, if you’re in the DFW area, and you’re looking for some fantastic Halloween fun (maybe after a Friday night football game?) come out and see us!

Weird Wednesday – Featured on Offbeat Bride!

I was so excited to wake up this morning to a link on our friend Tiinia’s Facebook page saying that her wedding has been featured on Offbeat Bride! First, I was excited because their wedding was so unique; I knew it had to end up on the site at some point. Second, I was excited, because Mom and I were vendors for the wedding!

We met Tiinia at the Etsy817 (our really cool Etsy team) Handmade Holidays arts and crafts show last year. She was the makeup artist for the fashion show, which featured some of our work. (Click on Tiinia’s name above to visit her Facebook business page and see examples of her amazing talent for makeup!) Afterward, she stopped by our booth and we all chatted for a while. The subject of her pending nuptials came up, and she bought one of my bracelets to wear for the big day. Then we talked a little about what she wanted for her bridesmaids, and Mom told her that she would love to make the fascinators she wanted.

Fast forward to a few months later, and we’d not only become friends with Tiinia, we’d become friends with a couple of her friends who often model for her, too. They came over to raid Mom’s closet of vintage goodies to borrow for photo shoots, and the more we got to know them, the more we liked them! We had so much fun brainstorming once we learned more about the wedding, and making the vision she had come to life. Mom ended up making all of the fascinators (including the bridal veil!) the bridesmaids’ feather fans, and the boutonnieres, and, as well as making the bride’s bracelet, I also embroidered her vintage handkerchief with their monogram. We were happy to attend their Friday the 13th wedding at the 13th Street Morgue haunted house grounds where Tiinia, her husband, Kevin, and many of their friends work year round to keep the place in perfect shape for the haunting season. It was definitely the weirdest, coolest wedding I’ve ever been to, and we had a blast the entire time.

Take a look at the OBB article for more inspiring photos and info about the wedding, then click on the gallery link to visit the Havi Frost Photography page for even more photos!

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Chelsea

P.S. Want to place a custom order with us for your own wedding? Visit our Etsy shops, linked on the right side of the page, and send us a message!

Fruits and Feathers of Our Labor

I nearly forgot to share the fruits of our labor for our new friend Tiinia’s wedding! Mom did an amazing job on the fascinators, fans and bouts. My amount of work paled in comparison, but I embroidered the bride’s vintage hanky and made her bracelet. (The only two good shots I have of our work right now are a little blurry – oops!)

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The wedding was wonderful and we had an absolute blast talking, eating, and dancing the night away!

Share the Love,

Chelsea