Groom and groomsmen inspiration

So I've been looking up ideas for David and his best man and the groomsmen. Since my dress is gun metal grey, David wants to wear a silver tie and vest. I found one, but it's not exactly what I want. So while looking for inspirations I came across this one...

This one looks like a darker silver and I like the pattern. The flowers on the right just happened to be part of the pic, but mine would be red...
I also like the red and silver one above (top row, middle), and the red paisley one beside that one.

Organization, planning, creativity

As I research handmade wedding invitations, wedding ettiquette, flowers, ties and socks, and decorations I have realized I need one whole wall in my study just for the wedding. I've also realized I need a "wo-man Cave" instead of a study. I need a big room just for crafts, books, my computer desk, reading chair, inspiration board, sewing machine, etc...The study just isn't cutting it and is going to have to be converted soon into our guest bedroom... So I guess we're going to have to save (after the wedding) for a "jam cave" for David and a "wo-man cave" for me (though I'm thinking it's going to end up being a craft/photography/library/study for me).

The wedding is a work-in-progress. My eyes are crossed right now from all the research and reading, but I wanted to sort of update a few things.

I've decided to create handmade invitations. I won't be making my own paper, though I did find quite a few websites that show you how to do that, but I will be creating the design and handwriting them. I'm actually excited about it. My daughter is an artist, and I'm actually decent when it comes to drawing, but she's AMAZING. I've found an ampersand that I am going to use, and I think I've found a piece of clipart that I really like....see above picture.

Since we're sort of going with the music theme for our wedding, and David is amazing on the guitar (and his voice is truly amazing), I think that will fit perfectly with what I want. Our wedding colors are black, silver, and red. So I think these will be perfect, if I can just get the wedding invitation to look the way I want it to. I'm going to put those two items on pretty much everything that we're using for the wedding (from invitations, program, decor, RSVPs, cake topper (maybe)...

Back to some research and trying to figure out exactly what type of invitations I want to use (fold, box, etc)...

That’s a Wrap

That’s a Wrap: pIt’s almost time for us to create and send our invitations, so I’ve been looking for ideas to make ours unique.  One of my go-to sites for inspiration is Oh So Beautiful Paper.  They have examples of gorgeous and fun real save-the-dates and invitations.  Since we’re going to be sending an invitation, rsvp card and making favors I wanted to find some stuff...I like this!!!

Inspiration boards

I went on Project Wedding and created 2 inspiration boards...I'm not done yet. But here goes some of what I'm looking at for inspiration...I'm in the process of trying to put everything together so I can start shopping for decorations for the wedding and reception, and from everything I've read it is much easier if you've got some sort of visual aid to use as a starting point.

Inspiration

My fiance David is a musician. While trying to figure out a theme for our wedding I came across an article that referred to a music/musician themed wedding. I remember thinking, "that sounds cool." I googled and found several images, some decorations for sale, one or two websites, but mostly lots of pics of sheet music inspired "stuff." I love black & white pics, black & white decorations, etc. Since I'd already changed the color of the bridesmaids dresses from dark purple/lapis to little black dresses (not matchy matchy) I thought "this might be IT." I did some more looking. I looked on Etsy, I looked on Ebay, I looked on wedding websites, in magazines, etc.

What it all acme down to was this: I found the niche between the two of us, that thing that helped bring us together (friends and music), and am using it as our theme. Our wedding/reception isn't going to be some formal shindig with a cocktail hour, nor will it be in a church or in a "venue," we're having it at my parents home. The wedding will be in their front yard and the reception in the backyard. We're having barbeque and the fixin's, beer, lots of family and friends, and some flowers and mason jars with tea light candles in them, and probably a couple of  bottles of Jack (my dad will haven hidden in the "mancave" for himself and a few of his close friends/relatives), and we're probably going to have a homemade red velvet cake withe wedding topper on it....and as I sit here thinking about everything (like my DIY wedding invitations that I'm working on, or my gunmetal grey dress that I need to have altered to tea length and my silver Cinderella shoes to match, or how I don't really give a rat's ass about whether or not everyone we invite shows up so long as the important people do, and most of them are either related to us, in the wedding, or both) I realize this just might be my dream wedding come true.

Would I want to have the fancy church, the cathedral train and veil, the sit down dinner and cocktail hour, the wedding planner, florist, etc...? No, not really. I'm a little stressed out about planning it myself, but at least this way I know it is about US.

Wedding angst

I'd only been engaged 2 weeks, and already "the wedding" angst had started. We had trouble picking a date that didn't coincide with anyone's birthday, anniversary, etc; then there were people who were trying to invite themselves into my wedding; then my daughter didn't want to be pregnant when we had our wedding...SO we finally decided on September 8, 2012. 
We wanted something sweet, romantic, fun, and most of all something that was a celebration of our commitment to each other. We checked into a few places, nothing really seemed right. I was talking to my dad and he suggested we have it in their yard. Now you should understand, my dad doesn't just have a yard, it's about 13-14 acres of trees--oaks, pines, gum, etc. The area in the front yard we were looking at for the ceremony has 5 trees that make a nice sized circle-perfect to put an archway in. The area in the back he's talking about has enough trees for shade but would be perfect for tables and chairs, a tent or three, and to even have a dance area.  The picture just shows a small part of the front yard.

David agreed it was a beautiful spot, and genuinely liked the idea. So we had agreed on the When, and the Where, and the Time. Now we just needed to figure out the colors, the Who would be standing with us, along with a lot of other details.

Surprisingly enough, I heard from more than one person that I could not wear WHITE. Both David and I have been married before, but neither of us had ever had a WEDDING. We were both married previously by a justice of the peace...Since I'd been married before I SHOULD KNOW that I CAN"T WEAR WHITE. I know lots of people who've gotten married again and worn white. WTH? Tradition? Well, I researched Tradition, and found that women didn't wear white until Queen Victoria wore white and then it became the "thing."

So I searched for wedding dresses, tried on numerous ones....And all along I kept looking back at several I'd seen that were gunmetal grey. I came close to buying a white one with red trim from David's Bridal that made me feel like a princess...But while we (me, my cousin, and my daughter) we happened upon a gunmetal grey prom dress. It was GORGEOUS!!! My fiance liked the gunmetal grey dresses I'd shown him online, and this dress was prettier, less sexy but more beautiful. SO, I tried it on.

AND WOW!!! I got it because it was the perfect dress, not because people said I couldn't wear white. I got it because once I alter it and make it tea length and it fits perfect it will be THE DRESS I imagined. And the perfect combination of what David wanted and what I wanted.