The urge to DIY comes in many forms: wanting to save $$, putting your personal touch on your wedding, or creating something that you couldn’t have otherwise. My situation called for all three. When I saw the going rate for centerpieces ($50 for something I would laugh at and $300 for something I enjoyed), I simply resorted to taking care of the task myself. And here’s what I got:

Now this idea didn’t pop into my head out of thin air, but rather from a couple pictures I saw on a florist’s website that captured my eye. Candles, candle holders, flower petals.. got it! Not too hard! So, I set out to recreate the look my own way, and save some $$$ at the same time! 

Step 1:  IKEA (aka. my favorite place to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon)

It never hurts to think outside of the box as you walk around the gigantic store. I like to think of IKEA as a craft store and I’m ready to walk in an transform what they give me into something much cooler. So, Instead of spending money on “vases” or “candleholders,” I bought lots and lots of drinking glasses. Total cost for the 160 glasses: $90. I also bought the tall ivory candles (another $30) from IKEA.

Here is my mock arrangement (without the votives):

STEP 2: More candles!

I performed a candle burning test and soon realized that standard tealights and votives weren’t going to hold up for 7 hours… so I went in search of some candles with longer burning times.

After doing some price research online, I chose to buy 100 soy tealights with 7.5 hour burn times from Moon Glow Candles ($35 shipped), and also 72 votives with 10 hours of burn time from cudge.net ($23 shipped).

Step 3: Flowers!!!

While I enjoyed the look of the rose petals, the amount of petals needed to recreate that look would be mighty costly. Plus, I wanted to enhance the golden glow of the candles, so I opted for my favorite flower: plumeria. I adore their smell and just love the colors of the flower… it just brings back wonderful memories of tropical islands.

I chose to order 2000 loose plumeria from Molokai Plumeria for $200 shipped. I had ordered leis from Hawaii for various occassions before, and knew that shipping plumeria was an option, but a risky one. Plumeria are extremely perishable once exposed to the elements, so even if they survive to the big day, they wither quickly over time. While the perfect situation would have allowed the flowers to arrive via FedEx on Saturday, we were warned that if an agriculture inspector is late to Saturday inspections, then our flowers would not arrive on time. So just to be safe, the flowers arrived overnight on Friday, and my Dad took care to mist them and keep them in an ice bath until they were spread on the tables at 5pm.

Step 4: DONE!

In the end, the guests loved the centerpieces (especially the low height) and they added the most beautiful glow to the room that bounced off the windows in every direction. The total cost was $378, which was about $25 a centerpiece, including extra glasses and candles. So… cost effective and exactly what I wanted! I don’t even want to know how much a florist would have charged me to create the same thing… just to “rent” the materials. Plus, throwing plumeria into the air at midnight is lots of fun… even if the clean-up staff grumbles at you!

More photos of the centerpieces from guests:

Saying that I adored our wedding cake just doesn’t cut it… it was so perfect that I still can’t believe it was ours! Judging by the number of photos I’ve seen from our friends, I think everyone else loved it as well. The smell of sugar eminated off of it and just filled the room with this amazingly happy scent… and when we actually got to taste it, it was better than I remembered from the tasting! Yes people, fondant can taste good, especially when it is paired with chocolate with mint cookies and cream!!!

Getting a gorgeous cake from Marina Sousa at Just Cake was never in doubt, but it still boggles me how precise her sketch matched the final product. Our classy/whismy mix-up was absolutely perfect… and I can’t wait to gobble down the top layer!

We’ve returned to city life after our most excellent honeymoon… and we’re slowly adjusting to using the words “husband” and “wife” in reference to each other. Heck, I had just gotten used to that whole “fiance” thing after a year!  It’ll take a bit of work getting used to sharing our small little space in the apartment, referring to Miss Memphis as “our dog” and figuring out the next big move when we relocate to NorCal in August. But enough rambling about the post-wedding stuff Miss Lemon… bring on the details of the big day and show us some photos already!!!

Yes… it was amazing… and as far as I could tell it was everything that we expected and wanted. We loved the ceremony… we got to see and talk to all of our guests… the food and service was perfect at the reception… and we danced until they closed the room at midnight and we were the last people out! I’ve managed to collect a few photos from the bridal party, and there are more I still need to get… but for now, here’s a taste of our wedding day!

Getting Ready

My MOH Audrey and I at the Macy’s MAC counter

Our adorable tank tops and proof that I am massively too tall (yes I’m 6’1) for even my best friends (I’m the only shoeless one of the bunch!)   

All of the dresses ready and waiting in my aunt’s bedroom — All of the prep photos were taken long before we arrived.

My aunt had set out lots of goodies for us to nibble on while we got ready…which we happily gobbled down!

On the way to the chapel… in the backseat of my Dad’s ’37 Ford roadster

Mr. Lemon happily chugging his Penta water (he was late to start the ceremony due to his water intake)

Who needs those silly pro-photos when you’ve got this?!!? (yay for MrsVic)

The pro-photographer was nowhere in sight… and they managed to do this themselves… strange boys…

They’re a bit “too” cute while we’re waiting for the big debut. You may be able to see, but each girl’s bouquet is a different shade of blue… Mine was all white with a few blue touches, the MOH (far right) had every blue flower in hers, and each of the bridesmaids bouquets went from light blue to dark blue (second from left).

I had just hopped out of the car and into the Hacienda to hide from the guests… and nervous vibes kicked in!

After the Ceremony

Chatting it up with my nephew the ring bearer… can’t wait to see video of his performance

The combined family portrait

 
Mr. Lemon is getting a little kooky at this point!

I’m obviously getting a little saucy here…

So that’s all you get for now… I’ll share some reception photos and incorporate the details later in the week! Lookie… I’m married!!!!!!!!

Getting a gift for Mr. Lemon is a really difficult task since he is the one that is usually bestowing them upon others. He gives gifts to people around the clock for the silliest reasons, but it’s a trait that I adore about him… and not just because I’m the recipient of lots of exotic sodas and video games. He loves gifting… which made the whole wedding present issue such a to-do!

He doesn’t wear a watch, or cologne, or cufflinks… or anything really traditional of the sort. He buys himself (or me) everything that he really really wants… so there’s not a whole lot left to go out and get. So… I decided to go creative and had something made just for him:

I solicited a few artists that I had seen in some local shows at Gallery 1988 to see if any would be interested in creating a painting for me of Stitch and Tinker Bell. You see… my nickname is Tink (my parents rarely ever call me by my first name) and Mr. Lemon is quite infatuated with Stitch. His impression of the little alien is impeccable, and our dog Memphis resembles him as well. We also have a small collection of pop artwork and Disney art, so I figured this would fit in well with everything else. The artist, Rex Hackleberg, did an amazing job and it turned out perfectly… too bad I’m not as stacked as Tink is in this piece!

Mr. Lemon loved it and I think I picked well!   So if you can’t find the perfect thing out there for your beau, be creative and find someone who can create it for you!

WE’RE MARRIED!!!!

That’s all I get…. we’re sitting in the San Juan airport in Puerto Rico waiting to get to St. Kitts. We almost missed our connecting flight in Los Angeles, and have spent our 4-hour layover playing Ping Pong and navigating security with more than 3 oz of MAC products….but we’re getting close to paradise.

The wedding was wonderful and I can’t wait to see it recaptured in photos and in video. I only cried a little bit during the vows, and our Catholic deacon mentioned”divorce” and “erotic poetry” in his homily, and Mr. Lemon looked ridiculously gorgeous in his tux… what more could I ask for!

So…. I’ll see you all next week when we get back to the mainland!!!

 We took a little break from the wedding planning on the 4th and went and celebrated my parent’s (and Mr. Lemon’s parents) anniversary and America’s b-day out in Monterey. My dad had arranged months ago to enter us into the local hometown parade, so we both drove our cars in the parade. Mr. Lemon and I painted the signs the night before and at 9am we headed into town to be in the short little parade.

The sign on the car we rode in

The sign on my parent’s car (bad picture)

We heard a lot of “Congratulations!” and “Hooray!” cheers from the crowd… but there were plenty of “Run while you still can!” remarks as well. It’s not too different from the reactions you get from the general public, but still strange to hear them from the crowds lining the parade route.

We spent a little time at the giant city BBQ they had, but then we headed home to finish some tasks before going to a big ‘ol family dinner/fireworks viewing at my aunt’s house that night. Mr. Lemon got to meet both of my aunts and all of my cousins and their kids and their kids… a little taste of what the whole clan will look like on the wedding day!

So…. yeah… we’re getting pretty close… and the nerves are kicking in big time… ooooh boy!

As Mr. Lemon described it just minutes ago… “I walked into a wedding nightmare!” We sure had a bunch of things going on around the house today… lots of loose ends to wrap up on projects and things to be laid out that were simply impossible to transport up in the car. But who knew that the biggest thing we’d have to manage would be the doggie park inside our house! My parent’s home is guarded by Mr. Dudley, I brought Miss Memphis with me on Friday, and my grandmother’s dog Mr. Sparky came to visit for the week on Sunday! My dad is trying his

best Dog Whisperer routine, and so far it’s working… but it’s definetely tiring trying to manage all of them at once.

As for today’s tasks, I started the day with a trip into town for a make-up trial at MAC at Macy’s. I was really happy with the results, as I already own most of the eye colors that they used on me and it lasted throughout the night tonight. (sorry no pix…) Now, even though I’m quite the makeup person, I still adore getting it done, but not at the prices that freelance work asks for… especially when I have to consider my bridesmaids. I tried a couple of reasonably priced options back in April, but one fell through as irresponsible (didn’t have a babysitter the morning of the trial and tried to demand to bring her 3-year-old into the hair salon) and the other as flakey. Then I gave up and went back to Plan A: the mall. Now, in most towns/cities, the mall is a crazy place that you completely avoid on weekends. In my case, it’s right between the hair salon and the ceremony site, and it’s super easy and convinent. Plus… three girls can get their makeup done at the same time… for the price of three makeup items. I’ll let you know how it goes, but with appointments from noon-2pm, we’ll be just fine for the ceremony at 4!

I stayed in town to pick up the last essential items for the OOT bags, and then headed home to decorate the cookies for our visiting guests. I just made simple sugar cookies and decorated them with white royal icing. Then, I sponge painted our rose motif (using a stencil I cut out) onto the cookies with blue dye. I had quite a few slip-ups before I mastered the technique, but I like how they turned out in the end.

In the middle of all of this… Mr. Lemon arrived from his 5-hour drive and I put him straight to work attaching all of the glass marbles to the escort cards. We had to wait to do this until the seating chart was finalized, but I had all of the parts arranged and my mom had divided the cards into tables to make the task go by quicker.

In the meantime, mom and grandma were filling up our snack bags for the OOT bags! I made simple little labels from a pack of Avery 1″ stickers from Office Max and a pack of 200 clear plastic bags from PaperMart to make the bags. Then, we just bought bulk packages of peanuts, pretzels, goldfish, gummi bears and animal crackers at Costco to make up little snack bags for a bargain price. Much better than paying a premium for the individual wrapped packages.

I worked on finishing the table cards…

 
(they have the menu and events schedule in each one)

…then we had dinner and rushed off Mr. Lemon and my dad to pick up their tuxes and have their final fittings at Mens Wearhouse. Mr. Lemon looked extra snazzy in his gold vest/tie and my dad (who doesn’t own a long sleeve button-up shirt) looked dashing in his tux! We picked up the other groomsmen’s tuxes and scurried back home.

The last project of the night involved painting vinyl car signs for the “4th of July” parade. My parents are driving their ’37 Ford sedan and we’ll be driving my mom’s retro 2002 T-Bird. My dad bought sign vinyl to stick to both sides of the car, so Mr. Lemon and I designed and painted the signs into the wee hours of the night to be ready for the parade in the morning.

*Phew*  At least we’ll get to enjoy fireworks tomorrow night… if the fog stays away. Otherwise, I’m always a fan of the colored clouds show over the bay…..  is it Friday yet?!??!

My 2nd DIY workshop location (parent’s home) is in full gear! I took care of all of my labeling responsibilities on Saturday night. First, the Jones soda labels for the rehearsal dinner favors:

Then… the water bottles for my OOT guest bags:

I’ve seen lots of people suggest buying the fancy waterproof labels for their bottles (which come at a substantial cost), which I’d only recommend if you’re going to be storing your bottles in a bucket of water at the reception. Otherwise, you can get the same effect by using normal paper!
I just bought glossy laser paper ($4/reem) at Staples and used 2 ZOTS to stick the labels to the bottle (Jones and the H20) and used a clear glue stick to seal the ends. Very easy to do (it took about an hour to do on my own while watching TV) and a super cheap way to personalize something!

134 guests attending… out of 175 invited.

Not too shabby if you ask me, considering all of our estimates have been based on 140 people, in a room that can hold a maximum of 160 people! I’m really astounded that so many people are traveling to Monterey for the weekend… but I guess our advanced planning really helped out.

I also think it was a lot of the little things that we did to help everyone out. We sent our STDs last August… which got all family members talking about the event long before travel arrangements could even be booked. Mr. Lemon’s family is almost exclusively on the east coast (PA, NY, MA) and they all cleared their schedules for a week vacation and rented out houses for their little clans to hang out in. I also kept an email list for guests to notify them of special hotel deals that I happened to find, and taught them how to use Priceline for some real steals on accommodations and car rentals. The last thing I ever wanted was for my wedding to be a financial burden on anyone because I happened to grow up in a touristy location. 

We’ve also had our share of  guests decide to come at the last moment, and got good news when I found out my cousin will be on leave from Iraq and could attend! I know some people beg for people not to come (due to extra $$ or size constraints), but our guest list was always an essential list… and I’m so happy that the room will be filled with these friends!

So… how did your guest list turn out??

My skin is a mess. Let’s just say my face is not reacting particularly well to the stress I’ve been enduring… or the fact that my monthly visitor is in town… or the summer sweat and heat… or life in general. It’s a gosh darn mess and I needed to end the vicious cycle before it got any worse.

That’s why I escaped in the middle of the day yesterday to get myself a facial, and fast! I really have no excuse as to why I didn’t go get one earlier (especially since I live steps away from Bliss), except that I usually have trouble spending money to primp myself. I wanted to get the job done without the frills, but also wanted to make sure that the results would be good enough to last until next Saturday (and beyond!). So, I went to Santa Monica and visited the Dermalogica spa on Montana Avenue.

The flagship spa for the skin product brand is a pretty simple but elegant store with the spa “pods” in the second half of the building. They only offer two treatments: the face treatment and the thermal back treatment. I, of course, opted for the face, since my back will be covered by my veils all night long.

the face treatment
Professional double cleansing, exfoliation, galvanic or high frequency electrocurrent (if
needed), extractions, masque, hand, arm and shoulder massage, toner, moisturizer, solar defense.
time: 60 minutes
price: $85

You can add on little “touch therapies” for $15 each that add to the spa experience… but I just need to get my skin fixed, so I passed on the extras.

When you check in, you fill out an extensive two-page survey about your skin and other life habits that might contribute to its well-being. You’re then escorted by the clinician to your room. The spa treatment is conducted in a little white pod that is completely enclosed as a room, with music playing and color therapy lights that change the entire aura of the room. You change into a sarong and the therapist selects music, based on the preference you indicated on your litlte survey, and 60 minutes of relaxation begins.

The “pods”

Inside the pods

I honestly didn’t think it was going to be as spa-like as it was… but I don’t think I’ll be venturing anywhere OTHER than Dermalogica for a treatment in the future. At the end of the appointment, the consultant went through a recommended skin regimin, with no pressure to buy anything. I bought some basic cleansers, and also got lots of little samples to use for the wedding day preparations with my purchase. Overall, I was really happy with how my skin felt, and today I woke up with a glowing happy face.

(p.s. If you have a KCRW fringe benefits card you’ll get 15% off treatments)

Dermalogica on Montana
1022 Montana Avenue
Santa Monica, CA  90403
(310) 260-8682