Wedding Planning, Or Lack Thereof

I feel so overwhelmed by the idea of wedding planning that I have done NOTHING. Nothing at all! I thought that I was going to be an organized bride ready to jump on the planning bandwagon, and here I am, engaged for 7 months, and nothing! Granted, for the first 6 months we really did not know when our wedding would happen because of me going back to school, but now that I've been acccepted, I have no more excuses. Not. a. one.

I am so excited to marry Andrew and to live together and have him as my husband. I love Andrew so much and cannot wait to go home at night with each other to a place that is "ours." I am not at all dragging my feet on wedding planning because I don't want to be married or in a sad attempt to prolong single life. I just had no idea there would be so many unknowns. For example, we can pick any date we want. The whole year is ours for the taking, we can get married on whichever day we choose. But, how do you choose? We can wear whatever colors we want. We can serve our guests a feast or finger foods. We can dance to whatever songs we like, get married here or there or across the world. Andrew and I are bad with choices. Although I am usually highly opinionated I feel like all of those opinions have nothing to do with a wedding. I am more interested inthe marriage than I am in the actual wedding day, maybe that's part of my problem. I also realize that this wedding is not MINE, it is not OURS, it is a celebration that I want to share with Andrew that will honor and bless EVERYONE invovled. My goal is that each person that has influenced Andrew and my lives until this point is reflected and celebrated on the day we get married.

I am enjoying the right now however because I can have crazy wedding ideas that don't actually have to be pursued in earnest but can still be pondered. Some of them are as follows:

1. Taco Truck! - wouldn't that be great? Real, hands-on, delicious, no frills, grub!!

2. Purple - well, more like plum, or wine, a rich deep purple. Can you really imagine me with a purple wedding? I'm not sure I can, but I like to try and picture it. It's so elegant looking in my mind.

3. Morning after brunch - wow, that makes it sound more like a one night stand instead of a wedding. One of the things that I would really like to see happen would be for all of our family and friends to get together for a relaxed, muffin filled, brunch the next day to kick back and enjoy one another. Okay maybe this is more along the lines of something that I actually want to see happen.

4. Amazing shoes - I want to have beautiful shoes for my wedding! I love love love shoes. Yes, the dress should be nice too but I'm really in it for the shoes. I'm thinking red, or maybe plum, if I go purple.

5. An outrageously expensive photographer - pictures are probably the #1 thing on my list for the wedding and I want to go all out. However, I'm not sure that's the most realistic thing ever, but this list isn't supposed to be about being realistic!

Flower Pins - Revamped Tutorial

The patient one.

The day after Thanksgiving I had some extra time, what? what is SPARE time? I feel like that is a term so foreign to me. I should really rephrase that and say, I did not feel like doing any of the homework that I should have been doing so, I ended up with some free time. I had been eyeing flower pins that My Momma Made It had posted a tutorial for. I figured making a pin shouldn't be that hard. There were two major things standing in my way though, 1. I had not touched a sewing machine since my 8th grade home-ec class and 2. I needed supplies. Mom to the rescue on both accounts! She is a superhero, I swear. She had just the material that I needed stowed away in her fabric bins in the garage from some well-intended project that she never completed - you see, we are related, I come by this naturally! And of course, she is a pro on the sewing machine, now, all she had to do was teach me. ha.

Here is the link to the tutorial that I followed: Large Layered Flower Pin How To. As Mom and I worked our way through the steps, I felt like there was some information I'd like to add. I am the kind of person that doesn't like to leave much room for my own artistic interpretation. At least the first time through a project I want the teacher to hold my hand, I want to be told exactly what to do to complete each step.

The flower pin turned out great results in a short amount of time. I learned to use the sewing machine, granted I only had to make straight, loose stitches, but still, I had to be taught. I have been wearing the pin with mixed responses. I love it, it's huge, gorgeous, rough but not rough look has me pinning it to everything. I do think that some people are thrown by it, uh yeah, like when I walked into the kitchen wearing it and Dad asked what "it" was. I can see myself making a bundle of them to embelish a shirt or sweater, possibly even a purse. It was very rewarding to be able to sit down with the fabric and turn out something that I would pay money for, something that looked like more than an arts and crafts project. My little secret, right?

1. Rip strips of fabric of any color you like into the following sizes:

Fabric #1

3"x18"

2"x18"

Fabric #2

2 1/2x18"

1 1/2x18"

Fabric #3

2 1/4x18"

1 1/4x18"

2. Iron all of the pieces flat. The frayed edges give the look that you want for the flower texture, don't worry about the fray.

3. Stitch along one side of each strip. Secure one end of the thread around a straight pin and pull the other to scrunch the strip.

4. Heat up the glue gun! The finishing of the pin is easy with a glue gun and plenty of glue, and trust me, you will see none of it! Cut a circle out of any fabric you like. I used a heavy duty fabric that I doubled over and glued together to give my pin a solid base. Glue a standard pin to the back. To finish the pin just glue each of your scrunched up strips in a circle and secure it to the base. Use the strips to give the flower the shape that you want it to have. I added detail to my pin by sewing a few pearls into the center. You could easily use any sparkly detail you like.

Finished product: