Loving woodgrain

My latest etsy score:

Custom woodgrain ring bowl by the brick kiln

I'm loving woodgrain lately. Trevor had woodgrain-styled cufflinks made for the wedding from blockpartypress. They were like the ones here, but in our wedding colors:



I'd love to show you a closeup of the cufflinks... But OOPS! Still no wedding photos!

Don't even get me started.

Yes, I'm extremely annoyed. I'm actually so tired of waiting for them that I'm afraid I won't even feel like showing them off once they finally arrive, which is kind of sad.

But on a more positive note, Nole has been featuring fabulous woodgrain stationery over on Oh So Beautiful Paper lately, so go ooh and aah over there and leave me to my crabbiness. :-)

xo.

Red and blue paper... still

While perusing birth announcement designs thinking about my new nephew, look what I spotted!

Now I'm not personally in the market for birth announcements (or anywhere close to it), but were I, this red and blue "Joyful Lovebirds" design from Minted would be in my hands in a heartbeat. Love it!

Awww... laughing

Our friend Chandra just sent us some fantastic photos she took of the wedding. This one made me grin like crazy:


I am so thoroughly amused in the middle of my own wedding ceremony, and I kind of love that. Of course, that also means that nearly every ceremony photo features my mouth as wide open as possible and my eyes all squinty-small, but hey... comes with the territory, I suppose.

Inquiring Mind: Dana

Dana asks...

I'd like to do sunscreen in my welcome bags as well. Did you buy it in bulk somewhere? If so, where?

As a reminder, here are our Welcome Bags and a closeup of the sunscreen and bug spray...


The sunscreen came from the unfortunately named company Mexitan, and I photographed it here. Bulk sunscreen is actually fairly expensive, and this was the best deal I could find. I purchased two half-gallon containers and was able to fill up 70 2-oz bottles and have some to spare.

Dana, you can buy your very own Mexitan (really? do they not realize how terrible that sounds?) here.

More questions about our wedding? Comment here or shoot me an e-mail at maggie(dot)eatdrinkmarry (at) gmail (dot) com. Ask away!

Change is a good thing

While we wait for more wedding photos to ooh and aah at, an announcement of sorts:

I'll be blogging from new digs soon.

That's right... a brand spankin' new blog. Many of you might not be aware, but I spent years before starting this 'lil 'ol wedding blog writing about politics and community organizing/planning issues at m-pyre, with two of my all-time favorite gals. Eat, Drink, Marry has been a great framework to write about more of the personal and playful, but make no mistake - I'm still a newsfiend, still have tirades about daily affairs, and still get nerdy delight from my wonky interests. My new blog (name and site to be unveiled soon!) will be a combination of what I dug into at m-pyre and what's amused me over here for nearly a year - plus lots of reading, cooking, shopping, nerding out, and more.

Soon we'll uncover mysteries such as:

What in the world is in my fridge, anyway?


And, really? A salad of watermelon and onion?


And, what was so absurd in today's paper again? And what book last kept me up until 3 a.m.?


Your standard fare... from gender analysis to pop culture snark, from what's wrong with the Farm Bill to why I can't own too many wrap dresses. The stuff that makes me tick. And obviously: the ongoing adventures of M&T.

Rest assured that we'll continue doing a full wedding recap over here... but the next chapter is coming soon. Stay tuned!

Inquiring Mind: Laurie

Laurie asks...

I love love love your stickers and wrap-around invitation envelope labels. Where did you get the stickers and labels?

Hi Laurie! I loved our adhesives, too! ;-)

Our campaign stickers were a fun touch to our invitations and Welcome Bag tags. Here they are in action:



Our campaign logo was designed by ABCD Designs. Using Amy's design, I priced out various sticker companies for printing and ended up going with Dr. Don's. The quality was great and the price was very reasonable. I only wish I'd ordered more!

The labels on the pouchette (as seen above) were printed via ABCD as well, using her preferred printer in New York. I loved the clean look of the labels and how they afforded an "inner envelope" feel without seeming stuffy.

Amy also designed and printed our wrap-around labels for our outer envelopes, as seen here:




I loved that the labels felt personal but were more modern than traditional calligraphy. As gorgeous as some calligraphy can be, it didn't really fit us or our invitations, but these wraparound labels were perfect - and a snap to use.

There you have it!


More questions about our wedding? Comment here or shoot me an e-mail at maggie(dot)eatdrinkmarry (at) gmail (dot) com. Ask away!

Gifting each other

Yesterday, our gifts to the wedding crew. Today, our gifts to each other.

(I wanted to do this post with full-res photos, but it's going to be several more days until I have those goodies in my eager hands. Screen grabs from Pictage it is, then!)

Trevor's gift to me

I had two moments on our wedding day that were not mellow euphoria. One, when I thought I'd lost my corset and would be forced to race to the single department store in the area and purchase something ill-fitting and un-pretty, because going bra-less was not an option for me. Two, when I read Trevor's letter and nearly bawled all over my pretty just-finished makeup.

"Oh my God, I'm going to cry."

"His letter is so beautiful and I just scribbled his card while sitting on the toilet!" So classy.

"Oooh...."

So pretty! They truly are gorgeous diamond studs. I took them off this weekend for the first time since the wedding and my ears are getting angsty. You can see me wearing them on the ferry here.

My gift to Trevor

I'd planned all along on getting Trevor wedding cufflinks to bookend his proposal cufflinks, engraved with "I do!" instead of "Yes!" Problem was, he already owned the perfect cufflinks for his wedding suit, so we decided he'd just wear those. As it turned out, he had so much fun creating custom cufflinks for all his groomsmen that he decided to make some for himself, so he had new cufflinks after all. Either way, it was no longer going to be my gift to him. I thought about a watch, because Trevor is in the market for a new watch, but it seemed wrong for this event. I never wear a watch, and when Trevor and I met, the only thing he did without one was to shower - as in, he would step out of the shower and put it right back on, even to go to sleep. Some of you can imagine my hippie eyerolling at this very Virgo behavior back in the day. So now, I consider the fact that Trevor also no longer wears a watch as a personal victory of sorts - as in, now that he's with me he doesn't care what time it is. :-) But truly, I don't mind that he'll probably wear one again at some point (although not in bed, please!). So celebrating our marriage by getting him the one accessory that he loosened up enough over time to give up? Not happening. Also, let's be frank - can I afford the kind of watch he really wants? No. Moving on!

I decided to take another approach and go all-out fun for his gift - untraditional, something he wanted but didn't really know he wanted, something he wouldn't buy himself, and something I could personalize to make it a true memento. The goal? To make him laugh.

Even though my message inside was of the "Yay! We're getting married!" variety instead of the stunning, gorgeous, heartfelt message that he wrote me... I did love the letterpressed card I found. It's very much us.

From may day studio

Not my best work in that card. Who's the writer again? Hmmm.

Trevor grinning at his gift! It was an iPod.

Here's what it says on the back:

Jokers through and through.

Bonus working-from-home-Thursday track:

Gifting our crew

So after our rambling speeches at the Welcome Cookout thanking everyone, it was gift time!

We'd already gifted our officiant and dear friend Gene with a room at the Sanderling for the weekend. This probably would've been smoother had the hotel not managed to screw up every single reservation we made, including his, which forced him to switch rooms halfway throughout the weekend. The screwup of our reservation forced our first conversation with anyone else the morning after our wedding to be one involving raised voices and flared tempers, which was awesome, and also to pack up and move into the house a day earlier than planned immediately following the post-wedding brunch. But I'll save the bitterness for another post. So anyway... a nice room for Gene! Who deserved it! Yay!



My mom's good friend Sandy helped her tremendously during all things DIY, and also served as our point-person that day, which was really helpful. Sandy's fantastic, and we gave her local jewelry as a way to say thanks in advance for the help we knew we'd need the next day.


To my cousin Zoe, who played violin for us at our wedding - and is packing for a whirlwind music prodigy camp in Europe as I type! - tickets to West Side Story in October, her favorite production that she's never seen.



We gave our mothers the same gift - a gorgeous pair of Tiffany earrings that really suited both of them.We had a special MVP award to pass out, too. It went to my mom as well, which you might expect if you've been reading about her craftiness over the last few months. I mean, look at those fabric pomanders in action!!!! We gave her a hot stone massage two days after the wedding when guests would be gone, so she could really relax and enjoy it. Hilariously, I called her on Monday to remind her about her massage appointment, since we'd never discussed it, and she had no idea she even had one. I'd attached a note explaining the massage to a mini Bliss Triple Oxygen Mask that I wrapped - and she thought her entire thank you gift was the sample mask! Um, no. I mean, it's a great mask, but not that great...


For my dad, I decided to get him three things that he knows and loves: campaign t-shirts, travel coffee mugs, and white hankies. Each had a twist. I had a shirt and mug made on Zazzle with our campaign logo that rocked. The hankie came from Molly and Mom and had "Father of the Bride" embroidered in white with the date. I knew we'd done well when my NM girls said they wanted a shirt and mug, too. ;-)


The gifting to Trevor's dad kicked off the wedding party introductions, since his father was his Best Man. Trevor did a great job talking about each guy standing up there with him and how they represent a different part of his life: his father Dean - family; my brother Lane - my family; Alex - college (and brother-in-law next year!); and Travis - his Dallas friends. Here are the guys, in a photo I think T hates because of his windy hair, but oh well!:

(More screen grab photos, sorry... I'm beginning to think my CD of professional photos was lost in the mail.)


Remember my Christmas gift post when I described the sterling silver "shirt stiffeners" I put in Trevor's stocking? He liked them so much he had a pair made for each of his groomsmen. They're made by Chris Parry, and each was engraved with their names. We'd already mailed the guys their ties, belts, and pocket squares, but we threw their fun socks into the gift bags, too. Finally, Trevor had cufflinks made for each groomsman, and had a blast doing so. Each was from a different etsy seller in mostly red and represented each person individually. Dean received dominoes, Lane Dogfish Ale bottle caps, Alex old-school Nintendo hockey figures, and Travis, a sickle and hammer (inside joke). Here they are, minus my brother, who was late for the "candid getting ready" portion of the afternoon:


Next up, the ladies!!! As I was speaking about my bridesmaids, I inarticulately tried to present a theme of family, calling on the bounty of fantastic girlfriends I'm blessed to have in my life, but who weren't part of the wedding party, first. Our small wedding party really did give it a family structure: my sister Lisa as Best Woman (and about to pop with my first newphew!), Trevor's sisters Morgan and Avery, and my best friend Heather, who has attended more Thanksgiving dinners with my family than I have over the last ten years. Here we are:

I had clutches made for all of us that coordinated with our dresses. You can see my sister holding hers above. They were made my SML Bags, and I had a blast picking out fabric. All of our bags were red silk shantung with a cornflower blue shantung flower on the outside. Mine was lined in the same blue and used a fabric swatch from my wedding dress to cover the buttons. The girls' bags were lined in seersucker and were flat-out adorable. Here's a close-up from SML:

I stuffed the bags full of goodies: their Smitten hairpiece, a pot of sheer red Stila lip gloss, more mini Bliss Triple Oxygen Masks (which all of you should own, by the way), and personalized Sarah+Abraham stationery. Here's Avery with her hairpiece:

That's a wrap!

Next up: our gifts to each other.

The Welcome Cookout

You'll remember that the Welcome Cookout was the first event that all our guests were invited to on the Weekend Activity Card.


Here's where we invited them to - the back view of the "Hanger House" that also served as our Honeymoon House after the wedding. This lawn was perfect for our needs - and a true rarity among beachfront vacation homes in that area.


The menu was down-home comfort: barbecue, shrimp, clams, crabs, sausage, veggie burgers, coleslaw, green beans, and cornbread. The decor was down-home comfort too: red and white gingham tablecloths, lanterns, and lots of lawn games. Now we just needed people... Come on down!

Playing Horse Balls... or its more sanitized name, Ladderball.

Retrieving lost footballs

My aunt made us the coolest beach quilt as a wedding gift - our names are embroidered on the sailboats! (Trevor's sailboat is plaid, of course.) Does anyone else have super-talented aunts who make them feel lacking of any useful skill whatsoever by comparison? Hmmmm....

The quilt hanging in all its glory

My brother cooking up some yumminess...

...and spreading it out so folks could dig in

My sister-in-law Avery is marrying a college teammate of Trevor's (got that?) and he is known for his famous cakes and fondant skills. Do you know any other professional hockey players who are pastry chefs on the side? Yeah, I thought not. Alex proposed to Avery with a ring inside of a cake made to look like a Tiffany box. It opened as cleanly as a real box to present the ring. Alex has also made hamburger cakes, Guinness cakes, turkey cakes, pretty much anything that you think would be funny as a cake, he can make. Here are the cakes he made us for the Welcome Cookout, which look exactly like yummy summer pies. And sorry.... like Trevor, Alex is taken!

My brother kept chastising me that I was too busy meeting and greeting to eat (which was kind of true... while more people from my side attended the wedding, I had only met about half of Trevor's side before, so that night I had *lots* of folks to meet. I'm so glad I got to do that here and not at our wedding, by the way - weddings are crazy enough as it is without having to go through introductions in the middle of it!) Anyway, back to the cookout... Lane was right, so I finally put a plate together and dug in next to my pal Michael, who I always kind of thought of as my surrogate little brother when I lived in New Mexico. Those smart younger brothers!

Here's my dear friend Mikaela (who is a total Wonderwoman) with her husband Eric. See that little face peeking out from Eric's chest? That's Umea, our MVP Guest! She got a shout-out attendance award from me later in the evening...

Trevor's father and Best Man opened up the mike later in the evening. We had some really fantastic toasts - some touching, some hilarious, all right-on and so fitting for the occasion. Unfortunately I don't think I have photos of any of them - or of the two of us up there together. When it was our turn to speak, we thanked everyone who helped us put the weekend together and gave out some special gifts as a way to thank our parents and introduce our wedding party. More to come on those gifts.

Here we are with some of Trevor's college friends - they've been married for eight years already. We joked that at their wedding, digital cameras weren't even invented yet ;-). Mike most definitely received the "Town and Country" attire award for the weekend, by the way. I really wish I could do a photo spread simply of the male attire at Adams-Hanger '09. Outstanding.

A group shot of the high school gang. And hey, recognize the dress?!

Much later in the evening at one of the rental houses, there was a Texas v. Yale v. Maggie's Crew drinking game. Oh yes, it was that kind of weekend... You're looking at Team Texas right here, who I believe was the winner? Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

As you can see, SO MUCH FUN!

Wedding Lead-up

The lead-up to our wedding was just as we'd envisioned... loads of friends and family, great food and cold beer, a balance of hanging out combined with structured activities, and a general sense of mellow goodness.

Much of Trevor's family was in Duck the entire week leading up to the wedding, which was great fun. Having them there early meant we could kick back and really enjoy their company before the rush of guests arrived (plus get help assembling/eating cookies for the Welcome Bags!). We had fantastic meals over at their big house every night - the same house we took over after the wedding for our honeymoon. A typical scene from a fun dinner over there:


My parents arrived at their rental house (just on the other side of the Sanderling) on Thursday, so that night we brought them over to the festivities at Trevor's family's pad for another great dinner late into the night. By Friday morning, my siblings, their partners, plus our one and only flower girl arrived! Here's my sis - so pregnant and adorable - with our niece and flower girl Taylor petting her future cousin.


I had friends trickle in all day Friday, which was so much fun. By Friday night, my parents' house was FULL. A group from Trevor's house came over and hung out for a while too, meaning the place was slam full (to use a fave down-home expression) with fun. There was an emergency beer run involved. All night, I kept looking around just grinning... my high school pals there, my freshman year roommate there, my grad school troublemakers there, our officiant there, Trevor's sisters there... just the best feeling ever. I think 22 people slept in my parents' house on Friday night, since most folks' rentals didn't start until Saturday morning. A couple of scenes from Friday night, definitely not capturing the full-on rowdy reunion:


Unfortunately for many of us, Saturday's wakeup call was a tad too early. Hello sleepy hangovers! About a dozen folks went to play golf, and nearly 30 of us went kayaking. Being on the water is so relaxing for me that I couldn't have asked for a better activity to recharge my spirits. I have countless hilarious photos of us all loading up into our kayaks, but the one photo I didn't get, to my regret, was the scene I still have so vividly in my head: a brilliant day, sun making the water sparkle, the sound opening up in front of me and littered with yellow and orange kayaks of people I know and love, and hearing them all joke and laugh together. It was fantastic.

Move 'em up, and head 'em out... as my parents always say ;-)

Can my sisters-in-law get any cuter? Doubtful.

I wore the biggest and ugliest sunglasses I could find and applied sunscreen obsessively. And STILL got too much sun on my chest and shoulders!

My aunt wisely decided to let my cousin do all the work.

My pal Dan had a faulty kayak, which provided the comic relief for the morning.

Our star kayaker! Taylor was so relaxed out there that she was asleep by the time my brother pulled in to the dock. What a trooper!

So. Much. Fun.

Coming up next... the Welcome Cookout, the official kickoff for all the guests!