Dancing Myself Into A Corner

Hive, I need your help! With a week to go before the wedding, I haven’t picked a father-daughter dance song. Well... that’s not entirely true. The two songs I picked were shot down by Daddy PaC. And we haven’t come up with anything suitable since then.

Some helpful background information:

I'm so proud of my dad.

Lookin' Luminous

Another project has been crossed off our to-do list! This can only mean one thing -- the end is near. No, not that end. The end of wedding planning! And with every end, there is always a beginning to look forward to. Ah, but that's a post for another day. You're here to see latest project, right?

Table for 16

The last time we talked about this project, I'd just found the silk flowers to honor our grandmothers. Because we're short on time (OMG! 10 days left!!), how about we fast forward a bit?


This is the hunt table where our photos, guestbook and escort cards will be displayed. Lest you worry like I did that it won't be large enough, let me tell you this is one beefy table. As in, 10.5 feet long by 3 feet wide. Plenty o' room.

Splitting Hairs, Take 2

My hair trial was a few weeks ago. Today's the first chance I've had to review the photos of the two styles we tried. Now that I'm looking at the pictures... uhmmm, I'm not really happy with either one. (Caveat: I'm my own worst critic. Throw in some lovely hormones mixed with under 12 days left until W-Day and you get a stomachful of knots.) The good news is I re-looked at my inspiration images and have isolated what needs to change. The bad news is I no longer trust my own opinion so I need to see it on me to know for sure. What I think would look good on me could be a disaster and there's only the morning of left to figure this out.

Both images via Style Me Pretty / Photo by Bliss Wedding Studio

The Yays and the Nays

Our final head count is due to our caterer today, but we're ahead of the game! Because our guests are the kind, responsible sort, they returned their RSVPs promptly. The last of our RSVPs were waiting for us after our Mexico trip. It's taken me a little while to compose this post because I wanted to supplement the stats with pie charts. That's right. Pie charts!

The Yays and the Nays: Who's in
Total # of guests - 101
Yes responses - 85 (not including us)
No responses - 14

Nom nom nom

Table Label

Table names are one of those details where the personality of the couple can really shine. I had lots (!) of ideas. Many of which Mr. PaC shot down quickly. Hrmmm.

yellow things - this one takes commitment! Also, I'd rather leave the thematic education to Sesame Street.

random things that we love - under apothecary bell jar cloches for a museum or terrarium feel. I just wanted an excuse to buy/rent 10+ bell jars.

via Remodelista / sourced from Restoration Hardware
childhood items (slinky, Legos, plastic dinos, horses, crayons, Hot Wheels, marbles, kaleidoscope, alphabet blocks, mini sailboats, army men, pinwheels)
Even though we don't have kids, there are plenty of these items around our house. We're a couple of kids at heart!

Golden Girls

After what seems like forever, I've finally found jewelry for my sister and BM R! You see, it's not that we couldn't find jewelry we liked, it's that we found TOO much jewelry we liked. How do you narrow down hundreds of awesome pieces when the choice is left up to you... and you've never done this before?

A marathon shopping trip (6 hours in new wedges - ouch, dummy!) a few weeks ago turned up a few possibilities. BM R, who trends toward classic and blingy, was coveting this lovely pair:

Nadri CZ Drop Earrings via Nordstrom

X O X O

Just ordered: 40" silver mylar balloons!

Via Amazon.com, for purchase here and here

Revenge of the Peony

Remember my devious plan to elicit tears from our wedding guests? (Quick update: it involves old family photos, sentimental flowers and trinkets.)

I had everything except for the flowers and so turned to our florist to add a few additional blooms to the procurement list. She loved the idea but my chosen flowers are springtime blooms in our area; the likelihood of them being available (read: reasonably priced) would be slim. She suggested I look for silk versions of a calla lily, peony and pansy. While not resistant to using silk flowers, I was skeptical about locating all three. Sure, the calla lily and peony would be a snap, but pansies? I'd never seen a silk version before.

Off Mr. PaC and I went: me to Michael's, him to neighboring Lowe's. Imagine my surprise when pansies were the first silk flower I found. With the option of purple or yellow to boot! Two bunches of purple pansies found their way home with me.

For Mémère

Dance with Me?

I haz no dancing skillz. I'm a lefty with two left feet! Dancing is one of the few things that can turn this confident, outgoing bride into a reluctant wallflower. Confession: I've never really gone dancing. That whole part of young adulthood... I missed the memo. Merengue? Tried it while studying abroad in the Dominican Republic; never took, my hips don't move like that.

Do these diagrams confuse anyone else??
This whole "dancing thing" (because it is now a thing for me) was brought to the forefront quite recently as I watched our newly married friends kicking up their well-choreographed heels at their wedding in Mexico. As the night wore on, Mr. PaC joined the fray with some impromptu and hysterical moves. And where was I? Hiding behind the lens of my camera, capturing everyone else cutting loose.

Charmed I'm Sure

As a nod to my avatar on Weddingbee, I'm doing something special and tiny -- a tiny pain au chocolat charm will be attached to my bouquet. Sneaking in this little reminder of the hive will have me smiling all day... and undoubtedly craving the chocolatey breakfast treat!


Etsy, with it's treasure trove of vendors, was my go-to source yet again. Miss Lox tipped me off about the shop, Inedible Jewelry, that created her super cute charm. One custom request later, my very own breakfast food charm had arrived.

Cinco de Mayo

Mr. PaC and I jetting off to attend our friends' wedding in Mexico... on Cinco de Mayo! All I can think is gonna be one heck of a celebration!

Wedding pavilion at sunset
Initially, I dug my heels deep into the beach sand over the time, expense, and additional stress of traveling less than one month before our wedding. But you know what? I'm glad Mr. PaC convinced me we should go. At 30 days out, an odd sense of calm has come over me and I find myself looking forward to the downtime, shaking loose of all the wedding stress, and most of all, celebrating with our friends and the newlyweds.

The resort shortly after opening in 2008 during our first trip.
See you when we return from our practice honeymoon! (Mr. PaC's name for this trip.)

What sacrifices would you make to attend a friend's destination wedding?