wedding project: succulent centerpieces

 

    

months and months ago i decided that i wanted to pot succulents for the centerpieces for our wedding.  around june, my friend marieka was visiting and finally got me into gear collecting milk glass teacups, goblets, and other various containers to use as pots.  over the course of three or four months i frequented antique and thrift stores looking scouring the shelves for milkglass.  (odd sidenote: is milk glass a midwestern thing? jared and i went to numerous thrift stores in san francisco over the summer and saw not one piece.)  i eventually collected about 65 of them and after a few flats of succulents from the farmers market (plus some amazingly mailed to me from a lovely lady in portland) i had them all potted by late september.  i added some bits of moss to cover up the dirt and voila!

my mom tea-dyed a whole bunch of doilies to set under the pots of succulents and the tables looked beautiful, if i do say so myself.  (you can also see a little peek at all the jams i made as favors for our guests).  luckily for me, and our guests, most of the pots went home with guests (including some out of town guests who bravely brought these home on the plane!).  i love the thought, as one of our friends pointed out at the end of the night while everyone was standing around picking out their favorites to bring home, that we sent our loved ones home with something alive as a remembrance of our wedding day.

[photos by tiffany bolk]

wedding favorites

okay, i know it's been a bit of wedding overload here.  and i promise i have many non-wedding posts to share here soon.  but before we move on, i just want to share a few (okay eighteen...i couldn't narrow it down!) more of my favorite professional wedding photos.  i have all of next week off from work, so i'm hoping to catch up on some posting here. happy weekend friends. xo

ps. this week was our one month anniversary!

wedding project: ties

 

 

 

 

  

  

 

part two of julia's crazy wedding projects!  i decided back in the spring that i wanted to make neckties for jared and the groomsmen.  after my relative success making jared a tie last fall for my cousin's wedding, i knew it wouldn't be too difficult.  i looked around for fabric that matched the bridesmaid dresses, but couldn't find anything i liked.  i was able to order a couple of yards of the fabric directly from the company that makes the dresses, so it ended up being an exact match.  pretty snappy, eh?

i left this project until the last minute (sort of, a couple of weeks before the wedding) because i knew it wasn't essential and if i ran out of time it wouldn't be a big deal.  i ended up having plenty of time, but lacking a bit in the motivation department.  by the time i got around to these, i was a bit burnt out on the wedding projects and was getting anxious for the day to just come already.  but i'm glad i made myself do these- they only took about a week and it all went pretty smoothly.  i'm super happy with how they turned out and it was a nice little gift to give our guys who helped make our wedding so wonderful.

technical notes: i used the purl bee father's day tie pattern.  the only thing i changed was that i only put one layer of interfacing in (the medium weight sew-in, i left out the lightweight fusible) since the fabric i used-silk shantung- is heavier than liberty tana lawn.  the last time i made this pattern, i used similar fabric and both layers of interfacing and the tie was super stiff.  while it wasn't stiff at all this time, it still feels a little flimsy, if i did this again, i might put a layer of muslin or other cotton fabric inside just to bulk it up.  also, i made one tie 3" longer for our friend who is 6'4".  

also, these are some of our professional wedding photos! i'll share more later this week. courtesy of tiffany bolk.  

wedding projects: shawls

 

as you probably guessed, there was a whole lot of handmade goodness going on at our wedding.  i was thinking that i'd share it with you all throughout the planning process, but then i started to get shy.  like i didn't want to spoil the surprise before the big day.  now that it's over, i'm excited to do a little recap of some of my favorite projects.

first up was some knitting, of course.  i decided early on that i wanted to knit shawls for my four bridesmaids (and our one groomsgirl!).  i hemmed and hawed for a bit over which pattern and ultimately i chose the mara shawl, a free pattern from madeline tosh.  after a bit of searching, and matching to the eggplant-y color of their dresses, i chose malabrigo worsted merino in frost grey. it's a gorgeous color that tends towards purple on the grey spectrum. 

because the malabrigo skeins are slightly smaller than the madeline tosh ones, the ruffle on these was narrower than the pattern called for, but i think they look perfect.  i used exactly three skeins for each shawl.  i started these back in march and each one took me about a month.  for a while i got worried that, although i thought they all looked beautiful and i knew my ladies would love them, they wouldn't look elegant enough with the dresses, since they are a bit bulky.  but in the end, i think they were perfect. and it was definitely nice for them to have something to ward off the slight chill that was in the air that day.  if i wasn't so sick of the pattern right now, i'd make one more for myself since i think they are amazing.  maybe next year...

details on ravelry, here.

we are rich

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 
we have people.

oh.

do we have people.

we have friends. and we have family. who buy each other plane tickets so they can be there for our wedding. who email others who they've never met before to plan wonderful things for us. who sew for us. who get creative when they think they are really not creative people. who listen to us. who show up and stand up for us. who help us pick fruit and make jam. who mail us plants. who travel halfway across the world to be with us. who walk ten minutes from their homes to be with us. who tell us that we are right. who tell us that we are wrong. who build things for us. who write the most beautiful words for us. who are there for us, even when they are not there. who make us feel special and loved.

we are so loved. and so blessed. and oh so very rich.

well then.

and now we are married. i could not have imagined a more perfect time.
truly.

i am full of love.

more soon.
xo

canning week: jam

 

jam was the very first thing i ever canned.  raspberry jam, to be exact.  at our old apartment, we had a gigantic and extremely productive raspberry patch in the backyard.  the first summer we lived there, i quickly realized that i had better figure out how to make jam, or i was going to be swimming in raspberries.  and so i did.  like i mentioned yesterday, we're not huge jam eaters, so over the years i have given away many a jar of jam to willing and happy friends and family members.  and, i've actually cut back on the amount of jam i make each year, simply because we don't eat that much of it, and you can only  give so many away [and we no longer have a gigantic raspberry patch, though i am working on building it up].

one thing about my jam making that i should mention: i do not use pectin.  i think when i first started making jam i mistakenly thought that pectin was some artificial ingredient that i didn't want anywhere near my jam.  i'm pretty sure i'm wrong about that, but i've been making jam without pectin for four years, and i'm kind of scared to change my ways now.  oh well.  it's been working for me so far so i'm okay with it. 

this year, i have probably made enough jam to last a lifetime.  203 jars, to be exact.  you see, we are giving them away as the favors for our wedding next month!  so, since june i have made:
strawberry rhubarb jam
strawberry vanilla jam
strawberry jam
apricot butter
raspberry jam
blueberry jam
peach jam
spiced apple butter


[i am not including the tomato jam, since that is not counted towards the wedding favor effort].  i have a feeling we will have some very happy wedding guests...

ps. thanks so much for joining me for canning week, it was super fun for me to do this recap of all my canning for the year.  i'd love to hear about any of your canning adventures and i'd definitely love to hear if you try any of the recipes i shared here this week.  happy weekend friends. xo

they're off!

well, they were off a couple of weeks ago, but i've been a bit remiss on the ol' blog as you may have noticed. in any case...the invitations are out and our wedding is just over a month away!  i need to photograph the invitations themselves, because they are amazing.  one of my oldest friends designed them and i am in love.  seriously.  i couldn't be happier, and i am so proud of her for creating something so beautiful.  soon.  because you'll love them too. [those custom stamps are from zazzle.com and the image is based on the invitation design]

i'm in full-on list mode tidying up all the last minute details so that i can just concentrate on being excited for the big day [which i totally am, by the way].  i am so excited to have so many of our friends and family all here under the same roof in our home city, many of whom have never been here before.  also?  i'm excited to dance my ass off.  there, i said it. 

now that things are getting closer, i'm hoping to share some sneak peeks of some of the projects i've been busying myself with these past months.  because oh, i've been busy. 

*calligraphy by the amazing queen quills. when i picked the envelopes up from her, i kind of kicked myself for not having her write something with our own names on it because her work is so freaking cool. what a treat to have her do this. [and the photo was totally inspired by alyson brown]