The OTHER Other White Dress

Previously, on Miss Potion's blog:

-I found my wedding dress in one trip (Mr. Potion best keep away from that link if he knows what's best for him)
-I found a getaway dress, but it took a little longer
-I'm a little obsessed with ModCloth

There's one more white dress I need for The Big Day.

Well, technically it's for the night before.

Our rehearsal dinner is going to be in the parish social hall so we can get to the eating pretty much immediately after the rehearsal.  It's going to be very laid-back- Mr. Potion will be in jeans- but I just can't pass up another chance to wear a cute dress.  Enter: ModCloth.

Ice Cream Anytime Dress via ModCloth

That's definitely a good name for this dress- the fabric reminds me of vanilla ice cream!  I tried it on as soon as it arrived the other day, and I was a little worried it would make me look a bit...frumpy.  I added a skinny black belt over the elastic waistband and that worked- gives it more shape.  I'm thinking of wearing it with black tights and tennis shoes, maybe a sweater if it's really chilly.

So what do you think?

Did you wear a white (well, close enough) dress to the rehearsal?  Is your rehearsal dinner going to be more cocktail party or pizza party?

Something Something Corsages

(Not gonna lie, y'all, this close to The Big Day I kind of don't have time to come up with clever titles for posts.  My apologies.)

Remember those boutonnieres I sewed for Mr Potion, his attendants, and our dads?

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I also want to recognize our mothers and grandmothers with corsages- but not almost-wilted flowers, shiny ribbon, and itchy elastic corsages.  Much like the fabric boutonnieres, I've put together fabric corsages, and I'll be attaching them to bracelets for the ladies to wear (and keep forever!) but these won't have LEGO minifigs in the center.  Instead, I added extra "petals" to make them floofier (as that's the technical term for it).  Wanna see?

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I used the same tutorial from Make It and Love It (one of my all-time-favorite blogs!) with a few alterations.  For the bouts, I added "leaves" underneath as a base to attach the petals to.  For the corsages, I wanted the focus to be on the floofiness (there it is again) of the petals, so the base is a single circle of green fabric.  To achieve the floof, I sewed three layers of petals of varying sizes, one layer at a time.  The first layer was the same as the bouts, and the extra layers were slightly smaller.  For those of you wanting to reproduce this look, be warned- you end up with A LOT of fabric with all of these layers, especially as each layer is comprised of folded pieces.  Take your time sewing the circles, or you might break your needle (I avoided this, thankfully!) and to achieve maximum floof, keep your stitches as close to the center as possible.

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The purple flower is for my mom and the reds are for Mr. Potion's mom and the grandmas.  You can still see some green peeking through the center in some places because it's kind of difficult keeping the petals pinned in place as you sew- especially the smallest ones on top that don't want to cooperate and stay folded...I'm considering finishing these off with bling-y buttons in the center to cover the mistakes, but I really like the way they look right now.  Once I have the bracelets done, we'll see if there's enough time to add bling :)

Did you have corsages for the important women in your life?  Have you ever made fabric flowers?  What's your favorite pattern to use- or did you invent your own?

Citizen Bride

Our wedding is the first weekend in November for various reasons, including the fact that it's a holiday weekend (Veteran's Day).  We plan to make the drive down to Alabama the Monday before with all the Wedding Crap, as I've named it, so there's plenty of time for last-minute preparation and (hopefully) some relaxing.

Those of you playing along at home will probably notice that the Monday before our wedding is the day before Election Day here in the good ol' U S of A.  As in, we'll be out of town on Election Day.  Absent, if you will.

As much as I would like to be truly apathetic about the state of partisan politics in this country, this truly is an important election, and I firmly believe that everyone should educate themselves and then VOTE not because we have the right but because we have the responsibility.

So Friday I mailed off my application for an absentee ballot, which will hopefully arrive soon, so I can fill it out and mail it back in before we leave for the wedding!

Fall brides- did you have to make arrangements to do your civic duty because of your wedding date?

**please note: this post is NOT intended to spark a political debate, it's merely a "Hey, this whole wedding thing is really affecting EVERYTHING, isn't it?" remark and, as I know other people get married in October/November, I'm wondering if anyone else experienced something similar.  So please, DON'T say anything about your preferred presidential candidate in the comments- I'd like Weddingbee, of all places, to be free of political ads.  Also, major apologies if the above YouTube video is preceded by a political ad- they're like nasty, deadly viruses, infecting everything with a screen...

I Saw the Sign

Back when we met with our reception venue to taste the (delicious) food and settle on a menu, we discussed the display for our cupcakes- scrumptious little morsels that will take the place of a wedding cake. 

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We're still working out the specifics of the display for these puppies, but I went ahead and made a little sign for them.

The event coordinator suggested we lay out some sort of sign near the display discouraging guests from taking one right away.  We won't have all of the cupcakes out at first- just a small arrangement to give people an idea of what they have to look forward to, just as a wedding cake is displayed throughout the entire reception before it's cut- but there will be other food, as well as the candy buffet, available for the taking right as guests walk in.  The coordinator pointed out that even though cupcakes are "trendy" at the moment in replacement of wedding cakes, people that don't follow the blogosphere (read: most people) might not realize that the cupcakes should be left until "cake-cutting" time.  I have a few other signs to make for the reception- something for the candy buffet, a list of drinks for the bar, etc, etc- so here's what I've done so far!

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 I knew I wanted our signs printed on map backgrounds- the adventure bit of "A Geeky Adventure"- so it was absolutely perfect when I found this calendar of vintage maps at Paper Source.  Then I headed to Goodwill and snapped up a few simple wooden frames.  Last but not least, I snagged some ink pads in our colors, as well as some cute letter stamps, from that other man in my life, Michaels.  Time for a super-simple craft project!

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First, I cut the maps to fit the frames, then lightly marked, in pencil, the border of what's actually seen inside the frame so none of my letters would be cut off.  I used the cardboard backing as practice and laid out my stamps to spell out the messages.  Obviously size was the limiting factor here, so I had to be creative in my wording so everything would fit and not look cramped. 

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The cupcake sign was done in red and says "Please wait before enjoying cupcakes."  The candy buffet sign was done in purple and says "How sweet it is to be loved by you / Take some candy with you!"  I'm no master stamper (a thing I just made up) so you can definitely tell the letters were stamped on- by the dots inside the d's and the corners on some of the letters.  I kind of like the imperfect look, though- I like that you can tell they're handmade.

Like I said, I still have a few more signs to do, but I'm really happy with how cute these turned out- and how fast and easy it was to create them!

Now here's my question for you, dear Hive:

These frames are all different shades of "natural" wood, and I had initially planned to sand and paint them all the same color- either a bright green or orange.  However, I'm kind of liking the eclectic look of the mis-matched frames.  So what should I do?

-Paint them orange!
-Paint them green!
-Paint them grey/silver!
-Don't paint them at all!

Bridesmaid Update!

My mom just sent me an email with some lovely pictures attached- my sisters' dresses have come back from alterations and they look fantastic!

photo by Mom Potion

Aren't they gorgeous?  I can't wait to see everyone together all gussied up.

photo by Mom Potion

Just as a refresher- these are Alfred Sung D448 in Barcelona and Majestic.

It's the end of September now...we're less than 50 days away...we've been planning this for almost a year now...

Oh.my.goodness.

I've gotta get those DiY's done!

When did it hit you that it was crunch time?

What Not to Wear

Previously, on Miss Potion's Blog:

-On the formal-casual spectrum, our wedding falls juuuuuuuuuuuuuust slightly on the casual side.
-The bridesmaids will be wearing short dresses, and so will the MOB and MOG
-The groom and his men will be wearing grey suits and handmade bow ties

...but what will the guests wear?

Sometimes, the dress code for a wedding is obvious- black tie, beach, semi-formal.

For ours, it's...not-so-obvious.  Since we have this fantastic wedding website for such things as the reception song request and RSVP, we figured we may as well give guests a hint as to what to wear- that is, not too formal and not too casual.  Guests can now find the following helpful graphics:

Guys:

Adam Gregory via Famewatcher / Tommy Hilfiger / J Crew

Ties are always a good option for a wedding, but how should you wear one to this wedding?  The typical go-to of a formal dark suit and a tie might be a bit too formal for our big day.  Formal shirts and ties paired with jeans and sneakers definitely create an interesting contrast in an outfit but we're going to ask that you kindly refrain from jeans.  If you're a tie guy, you'd probably be most comfortable in slacks and a long-sleeved shirt- and those sleeves will probably find themselves rolled up to the elbow when it's time to dance!

Dr. House via Zap2it / J Crew / Leonardo DiCaprio via JustJared

 But maybe you do like the feel of a suit with a nice jacket!  Again, although Dr House sure can rock the blazer-with-jeans look, we wouldn't want him showing up to the church dressed like that.  And Leo looks awful dapper in his tuxedo, but it'll be 11:00 in the morning!  Maybe switch things up a bit and go for slacks and a sport coat- super trendy and the perfect compromise.

The Ninth Doctor via chachadesu / The Eleventh Doctor via Rocking the Time-Space Continuum / The Tenth Doctor via Honorary Doctor

Still not getting it?  The Doctor is an awfully fashionable man, so let's let him demonstrate.  The Tenth Doctor's pinstripes are a little too formal for this shindig- though the Chucks do, admittedly, tone it down a bit- whereas the Ninth Doctor's t-shirt and leather jacket are a bit too casual.  The Eleventh Doctor has it juuuuuust right- that tweed jacket is so very fall and that bow tie is so very cool (just ask our groomsmen!) that he would get along swimmingly on our big day.  Allons-y!

Girls:

Chambray of the Week Dress via ModCloth / Gillian Dress in Navy by Dear Creatures via Ruche / Amy Adams via Style Bakery

 A dress is the obvious choice for a wedding guest, but length and fabric are really the key to getting it right.  Amy Adams looks fantastic in her blue one-shoulder gown, but that really fits in better on the Red Carpet than the dance floor at our reception.  That shirt dress from ModCloth would look adorable paired with leggings, but it's a little too short and a little too casual for our church wedding.  The shoulder-covering, knee-length dress from Ruche would be just perfect for the most stylish guest on our big day.

ModCloth / ModCloth / Nordstrom

  Maybe you'd rather go with separates than a dress?  That grey number from Nordstrom is a little too mother-of-the-bride- and not even the actual mother of the bride will be wearing anything like this!  However, the get-up on the left from ModCloth is just too summer-camp-banquet- the flannel and the miniskirt are two reasons to not wear it to this wedding.  The outfit from ModCloth in the middle hits all the right notes- slightly more formal fabrics than the outfit on the left, but a shorter skirt than the outfit on the right.  The key is knee-length to tea-length skirts, covered shoulders, and daytime colors and fabrics.

Keiko Lynn / Delightfully Tacky / Little Chief Honeybee

If you've been reading the blog, you know that our wedding is going to be a little quirky, and maybe your fashion muse is a quirky style blogger.  I have to admit, I really like this look on Keiko Lynn and would love to steal it for myself- but denim shorts are just too casual for our wedding.  Kaelah of Little Chief Honeybee looks fantastic as always, but the dress she's styled is made of a sheer chiffon with metallic polka dots- more prom than our big day.  (Of course she's styled it down with that awesome sweater, so this look probably would work ^_^)  As she always does, Elizabeth of Delightfully Tacky hits the nail on the head with a sundress made November-worthy by layering it over this feminine top and pairing it with ankle booties.  I'd wear that!  (Okay fine I'd wear all three of these.)

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Does your wedding website include a what-to-wear guide?  Would you appreciate one as a wedding guest?

How to RSVP to the Potion Wedding

Previously, on Miss Potion's Blog:

-Our wedding invitations are...different, to say the least
-And we're trying something...different...for the RSVPs-
- -online RSVPs!

So let's pretend you got one of these in the mail recently:

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Well, inside you'd find one of these:

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And you'd visit the website printed on the card:

{screenshot of our wedding website}

And then you'd click on RSVP in the side bar menu and be taken to a page with this form- whether you're planning to come or not:

{screencapture from our wedding website}

And in that last space you'd enter the code found on your invitation before clicking "submit".  And the information would populate our Google Docs spreadsheet and we'd know whether or not you're coming and how many people you're bringing.  And you'll do all of this BEFORE the deadline printed on the card, and Miss Potion will not go insane.

Any questions?