Post-Wedding Depression
HellooooOOOOOoooooo, hive! Remember me? It’s hard to believe it’s been almost nine months since I said “I do” to my best friend, Mr. Bunting.
It was never my intention to make you wait so long to hear all about the happiest day of my life, and I must admit part of the delay is selfish procrastination on my part. I’ve been sitting on some finished recap posts for months now, and part of this reason was so I can finish or nearly finish writing all of them before I begin sharing them with you, but the other reason is because I was reluctant to officially begin them.
You see, our wedding day is by far the happiest day of our lives. It was utterly amazing, and though we did have some minor setbacks that you will learn about, it was also utterly perfect. The entire day, from the moment I woke up to the moment we collapsed in our hotel bed, exhausted and married, was a surreal living dream. I loved every single second.
When the day was over, we had a day to pack and then our honeymoon to enjoy. And when our honeymoon was over, we had a few months to be sappy and chase each other around calling out ‘husband!’ and ‘wife!’. And when that immediate newlywed freshness started to subside and our regular routine resumed, I succumbed to PWD. Post-Wedding Depression. I swear it must be a real thing, because although I would not say I was actually depressed, I was definitely sad when it came to wedding talk.
Brother Bunting’s wedding came and went, and a cousin Bunting’s wedding came and went, and all the while I was incredibly happy to be in or attending their weddings, I was also incredibly sad and a bit jealous that our wedding was already past. I missed the planning. The daily calls with Mother Bunting about flowers and tissue pom-poms. The countless hours spent pouring over wedding blog after wedding blog, absorbing everything I possibly could and finding new ways to incorporate those sweetest things featured. The sheer anticipation of what was going to be the best day ever. I missed everything about our wedding adventure. And when it was over, I couldn’t help but feel the pangs of bittersweet nostalgia.
I know fully well that the title of ‘best day ever’ will have some serious contenders down the road, but our ‘best wedding ever’ has been fulfilled and can never be fully experienced again. And that made me sad.
So after the transition back to normal life, I held off on working on my recaps. At the time I told myself it was because I was so busy, but I think it was because my recaps were the last leg of my wedding journey and I wasn’t yet ready for that journey to end completely. I held onto those last threads dearly and selfishly.
But I have waited long enough and you have waited long enough. And while I do still feel a little jealous of our engaged friends because they have their perfect day to look forward to, I believe I have finally come to terms with my PWD. It just took some time and some reminiscing. So let’s re-live my wedding together, moment by moment, and let the Bunting Bash begin!
Have any of you experienced any post-wedding sadness? What did you do to overcome it?
Favors Fit for Flowers
…or FFfF, because that’s the sound I made for the longest time when I thought of favors. On the one hand, there’s a part of me that loves the idea of them. This is probably because I went to too many birthday parties as a child where we were sent home with Lisa Frank paraphernalia. Stickers, notepads, colorful pens, and temporary tattoos. Oh, those were the good days!
Okay, I am still one-hundred-percent all about the birthday party favors. But a wedding is a completely different affair. As in, we would be having 150-200 adult guests instead of 5-10 children. I wasn’t too keen on spending a lot of money on a favor that, from what I’ve heard, more often than not goes untouched and unappreciated. Yet as our day grew closer, I found myself genuinely wanting to offer our guests a token of love and our gratitude.
It wasn’t until I was searching the ‘Bee for inspiration and came across Mrs. Sloth’s own favor post that I was convinced. (Thanks, Mrs. Sloth!)
And thus, with minimal money and minimal work, these were born:
photo by Bryan and Mae Photography
Wildflower seed packets! Too cute! Eco-friendly, easy, cheap, and requiring no assembly. I didn’t leave much time for tedious favor assembly, so that was key. After first stumbling upon the idea, I shared it with Mr. Bunting, Daddy Bunting, and Mother Bunting. They all thought it was great, especially since all our guests will have to do to enjoy is sprinkle the seeds on the ground. No digging, no planting, no hassles. We’re all lazy, it’s true.
Now wait a minute, Mrs. Bunting, that photo you posted clearly has more than just a seed packet. What’s the dealio? Well, Grandmother Bunting was a bit sad to hear we wouldn’t be having any of the traditional Jordan’s almonds, so I decided why not do both? Haha, so much for no assembly required! Mother Bunting and MOH Bunting helped me package all the favors in a single evening. We stuffed four almonds in a cello bag, sealed it with a sticker, used a glue dot to attach the almond bag to the seed packet, finished it with twine, and voila! (Tradition calls for five almonds, but our little baggies looked much more comfortable with only four.)
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The stickers were made by printing on 8.5×11 sticker stock. You know how you can buy mailing labels of varying size? You can also buy sheets of stock that are essentially a giant 8.5×11 sticker. I made mine by printing on those, then used my nifty 1-inch scalloped craft punch to punch those babies out. Easy-peasy, and no cutting machine required!
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I haven’t heard too much through the grapevine yet about how well-received the favors were, but I can tell you that the majority were gone at the end of the night. There were a handful or so that had the almonds missing with the seed packets left behind, but you really can’t please everyone so I wasn’t too hurt by these rejected pieces. Especially since I saved those leftovers and can now plant them wherever I please. More flowers for me, I say!
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For those who are interested in the idea, here was our cost breakdown-
200 seed packets: $70.00
Baker’s twine: left-over from invites
Stickers: Printed on 8.5×11 glossy sticker stock I already had, punched out with my Martha Stewart 1-inch Scalloped Circle Punch
200 (2.3 x 3.5″) cello bags: $11.14
Glue dots runner (from Hobby Lobby): $3.00 after 40% off coupon
Jordan’s almonds (from Gordan Food Service): $11.99 for 390 almonds (we bought two containers)
Total: $108.12 – 200 favors at $0.54 each. Not too bad!
Did you find a cost-effective way to have favors for your guests? What were they?
DIY: Easy-peasy paddle programs
Paddle fan programs are nothing new in the wedding world, but boy are they still fun! Here’s how ours turned out:
I would tell you that the concern for our guests’ comfort on a potentially hot summer day was the leading deciding factor to use paddle fans, but honestly, the cuteness factor had just as much influence. I just cannot resist things that are both adorable and functional.
We didn’t finalize the order of our ceremony up until the one-week mark so I had to find a quick and easy DIY method to create these puppies in a crunch. Regardless of whether you can finalize your ceremony before the final week or not, I would highly recommend having the design and layout for your program finished in advance. I had our design sitting around for months, just waiting for my rough draft or filler text to be replaced with the final verbage. This way when I actually did figure everything out, I could go straight to the printer instead of having to spend precious time designing.
For this DIY project, you will need:
- Printed program fronts and backs (ours are 7″ x 6″ on 100lb matte coated coverstock paper)
- Corner rounder (optional)
- Wood paddles from Hobby Lobby or similar craft store
- Double-sided adhesive
- Packing tape
The first thing I did after having my programs printed and cut to size was round the corners on all of the front pages and all of the back pages. The corner rounder I had access to worked best punching a handful of flat sheets at a time, but depending on paper thickness you may be able to save this step until after the program has been fully assembled.
I used clear packing tape to secure the wooden paddle to the back of one side. Using strong tape instead of double-sided adhesive will keep the stick in place and ultimately help prevent the two pages from pulling and separating completely because, honey, that paddle ain’t goin’ nowhere. I’ve found that double-sided adhesives are good for securing a flat surface to another flat surface, but then leave something to be desired when you introduce any three-dimensional objects. Packing tape is the cure-all for Wandering Stick Syndrome. (WSS is serious, folks.) Use it, and use it well. Do let your perfectionist side relax a bit for this step, though. You’ll notice all the tape crinkles in my photo… those won’t show at all in the finished program so don’t worry about getting the tape flat and smooth.
Double-sided adhesive wins the round for gluing paper to paper in this project! I decided to try a permanent bond glue runner by Ad tech, as shown above. It worked very well, though I did need at least six re-fill cartridges to assemble 100 programs.
You don’t need to use a lot of pressure to lay down the glue strips with this runner, so application should be very swift. It was hard to see where the glue was in the photograph, so I added red as a guideline for what areas to glue.
Tip: The closer you can get the strip to the edge of paper, the less noticeable any splitting between the two glued pages will be. Don’t forget to add a strip to the taped wooden stick, either!
Laying down the other side is probably the trickiest part because you need to get the two pages aligned. Start by aligning the top edge and corners while trying not to let the adhesive touch the paper yet. Once you’re confident the top is aligned just right, begin pressing the page down to the glued paper while working your way (slowly) from top to bottom. After it’s flat and glued, press firmly over the glue strip areas to make sure the bond is holding.
Tip: Working from top to bottom is a little more forgiving than laying down the entire page in one motion. You’ll want to avoid bending the paper so much that it creases, but this way you can make any necessary shifts and adjustments as you go.
Voila! Now you can admire your newly assembled program paddle fan.
Go ahead…. wave it around and try it out. You know you want to make silly poses like I did.
left: "tee-hee"; right: "uhhhmuhguuhd it's so hoooooot."
One last thing to note: I assembled these a few days before our wedding, and by the day-of some of the glue strips had started to separate at the bottom around the wooden stick. (This is where the packing tape is really important because the stick won’t loosen and fall out.) Just keep this in mind if you’re assembling yours in advance. The tops and sides held well, but you may have to pinch the bottom ones back together unless your glue is stronger than my little runner strips.
A mild case of separation disease, which can lead to WSS without packing tape.
How are you assembling your programs? Did you find it was a quick and easy project or did it consume more time than expected?
*all photos within this post are personal
Now I know how Sauron felt…
Note: No, this is not a recap yet, so sorry to disappoint! I’ve got a couple of last-minute posts I ran out of time for in the days leading up to the wedding, but patience is a virtue. Or so I’m told.
When Mr. Bunting got his passport, a few readers noticed something suspiciously shiney and silver in the photograph of Mr. Bunting. First, I commend those of you who noticed! You are all like wedding piranhas, sniffing out all the little wedding-related details. If Waldo wore a veil, you would find him without fail every time.
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While it so clearly resembles a wedding band, I assure you that I did not cave and let Mr. Bunting wear his wedding ring before we were officially wed.
So this is the story about a friendly jaunt that I took to the next level.
It started before we were even engaged, really. When we first went to not-so-innocently, ahem, “admire” the current designs of engagement rings, Mr. Bunting commented how it was unfair that the woman would receive such an expensive token while the man received nothing. I laughed, made some snarky reply about how the man got to marry the woman and that should be prize enough, and then was immediately distracted by all the shineys. Mr. Bunting purchased an e-ring and brought it home while we both tried to non-nonchalantly act like I didn’t know. (I totally did.)
After that day, time passed without a further word on the subject. I now realize that Mr. Bunting was avoiding all wedding and engagement talk like the plague because he was secretly hoping I would forget he had an engagement ring hidden away. Ha, as if! Yet several months flew by and then Mr. Bunting was on one knee while my jaw was gaping in complete surprise. I hadn’t forgotten about that lovely, sparkly little ring mind you, I just didn’t know it would come out of hiding so soon! 1,000 points for Mr. Bunting!
For the next few days I floated around, showing off my new bling to everyone and anyone that had functioning eyeballs. And then Mr. Bunting brought it up again. Why didn’t the man get an engagement present? I thought about it some. Hum, he did have a valid point. I was proud to be engaged to Mr. Bunting and my engagement ring was a reflecting statement of that. It did seem rather unfair that the man rarely got a token to show off to the world, too. Except that I saw through Mr. Bunting’s jaunt for what it was: a thinly veiled disguise to get new “engagement” computer parts. Silly, clever Mr. Bunting! Well, there was no way I was going to buy him computer upgrades as an engagement present because I knew they’d be upgraded and replaced again in a few years. If I was going to get him a gift, it would be something that was meaningful and long-lived. Kittens*, anyone?
So I decided to get him a ring, since that’s what I had. Eye for eye, ring for ring. (Okay, that’s creepy considering what the first implies.) I wasn’t going to buy him any old ring, though. Hell, I wasn’t even going to buy it. I was going to make it, no, forge it.
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My father had made their wedding bands in his college jewelry class, so the idea was not new to me. (Now that I think about it, I made Mr. Bunting’s ring in the same building my father made his wedding bands in.) I had never taken our art department’s basic metals and jewelry class, so I had no idea where to begin. Enter my good friend, C, who was currently in the class and knew the ropes. I bought a length of sterling silver, and with his help, began constructing a ring.
To those who have never made a sterling silver ring without the use of a mold – it is hard, hard work. I had a large anvil and I had a hammer. So I hammered. I shaped. I hammered and shaped, all the while cracking jokes about forging The One Ring and feeling pretty epic about the whole thing. (Mr. Bunting was oblivious and still dropping none-too-subtle hints about the newest computer thingamabob.)
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When I had the rod flattened out, it was time to get Mr. Bunting’s ring size. I had no idea what it was, but C and I came up with some lame excuse to get Mr. Bunting to try on the sizing rings in the shop. I don’t remember what we told him, but it worked and we had his size without revealing anything. C helped solder the two ends with a blowtorch, and it was back to the hammer and anvil for me! I hammered more. I shaped more. I hammered until I was sick of hammering and all out of Lord of the Ring jokes. And then I hammered some more. Finally, I put the hammer down and picked up the sandpaper. Now re-read the last handful of sentences and replace the word ‘hammered’ with ‘sanded’ and you get the general idea of that laborious task.
The perfectionist in me wasn’t satisfied until I had that ring as polished and smooth as an amateur human hand could possibly get it. And I looked upon that ring with great pride. Yet, it still wasn’t finished. I had to go and drop it in acid.
I had a one-chance shot with the acid etching I was planning, and there was no way I was going to finish it only to discover it didn’t fit Mr. Bunting’s finger properly. Up until this point the ring had remained a secret to Mr. Bunting, but I reluctantly admitted it was time to confess. So Mr. Bunting, shocked and delighted with my secret scheming, tried it on. It was a little too big. Good thing I checked! I cut out a piece, soldered it back together again, more hammering and sanding, and then finally we had a good fit.
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Time to play with acid! Sorta. I covered the entire ring in a black substance that acts as a barrier against acid and then I used a needle-point to draw out a design on the surface. The needle scratches away the resist so any exposed silver will be eaten by the acid. An hour or so in the acid bath followed with a cleansing wash, and ta-da – an etched engagement ring for Mr. Bunting! To really make the etching stand out, I added a quick petina that filled all the little grooves with a thin layer of black and…. It. Was. Finished. Hurrah!
The design was inspired by fingerprints and wood grain. And what geek’s ring would be complete without a <3?
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The ring isn’t perfect. It never was, it never will be. And after being subjected to a year and half worth’s of wear and tear, it’s even less perfect than when it started. These handmade imperfections, coupled with the scratches and dings from its engagement adventure, are qualities that make it exceptionally unique and personal to us. We wouldn’t have it any other way.
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Making this ring was hard work that took the majority of a good week and a half, but it was so incredibly fun and I absolutely love telling everyone that I made Mr. Bunting’s engagement ring. And the best part was that for the rest of our engagement, we could both float around showing off our bling.
Did you get an engagement present for your partner, or are you planning to?
*Just kidding! I don’t endorse the use of kittens as gifts, unless the giftee: a.) loves kittens, b.) is financially responsible, and c.) emotionally available for a surprise kitten. In which case Mr. Bunting fails the last one. My two cats press his sanity enough as it is.
Bunting is Back!
Hi, Hive!
I’m back, married, and it was legen-… wait for it… -DARY! But alas, we don’t have pro photos back so you’ll have to wait a little bit longer before my recaps begin. Sad, I know.
I’m saving most of the details for the recaps, but I can at least spoil you all with a few teaser images shot by some of our lovely guests. Right? Right!
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The morning forecast had been calling for thunderstorms and rain right when the ceremony was scheduled to start, and that had the butterflies in my tummy doing barrel rolls a la Starfox-style. Mrs. Meerkat even drove out of her way to bring me a cute pair of galoshes and matching umbrella, just in case. (Isn’t she the SWEETEST?! The answer is yes, yes she is.) As cute as they are, I’m thrilled to say they won’t be making an appearance in photos at all. The weather was absolutely beautiful – warm, sunny, and very summery without a single raindrop! Just what we ordered.
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It was fabulous. Absolutely fabbity-fab-fabulous. Our groomsmen looked smashing and our bridesmaids were gorgeous. Our guests were amazing and surrounded us with such a love and warmth. The food was delicious, the details were perfect, and the dance floor was hopping all night long. Simply divine, I tell you!
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And best of all, I’m now married to my best friend. Not a day has gone by where we haven’t looked at each other, grinned in disbelief, and proclaimed “We’re married!”
I am so giddy to start sharing everything with you. Soon, my lovlies, soon! Until then, enjoy a bit of silliness!
photo by bryan and mae photography
Here I go!
Dear Hive,
Today, I will be marrying my best friend. It seems so incredibly surreal that our engagement period is about to draw to a close, and that our relationship is about to enter an entirely new territory. I feel like we are leveling up. We have been dating for over seven years, and though we both knew within our hearts that we would eventually marry, it is still almost unbelievable that our day is finally upon us. The entire wedding planning process has been such an amazing adventure, and it has certainly had its ups and downs. But you know what? Despite all of the stress, drama, and occasional fits of tears, planning my wedding to Mr. Bunting has been an experience I will forever treasure. There have been so many new and wonderful memories made, and I can honestly say that I have thoroughly enjoyed and savored every minute of it.
Throughout our engagement, people continuously told me how it was such a lot of time and money to invest into a single day. In the beginning I may have agreed, but I quickly learned that the wedding is not just the day, it is the entire process and experience. Planning this wedding has made me realize, even more so, just how blessed and fortunate I am to have Mr. Bunting and everyone else in my life. I have grown closer to my family. I have gained new family. I have seen just how much my friends love and support me. And most importantly, it has been proven time and time again, stressful situation after stressful situation, joyful discovery after joyful discovery, that Mr. Bunting and I are so perfectly matched.
Hive, I want to thank you for letting me share my experience with you, and for all of the support and kindness you have in return shared with me. By no means is this a goodbye, since I will return from our honeymoon with some last-minute DIY projects, details, and of course all the juicy recaps, but I do want to simply say: thank you. And see you on the married side!
Sincerely,
Miss Bunting, soon to be Mrs. Bunting
The Passport: Part II
Remember my freak-out with Mr. Bunting’s passport? Well guess what came in the mail!
It took months of ups and downs (mainly downs) and searching and phone calls and e-mails and more phone calls and waiting and even more phone calls and finally…. we have it. We had contacted everyone we possibly could that was involved with his adoption and called the passport agency on a daily basis for help, all to no avail.
So how did we finally get it? Well that’s the real kicker.
The passport agency had the missing document the entire time. I didn’t know whether I wanted to hug someone or punch someone. The letter we had received in the mail was a generic letter for those who hadn’t submitted an alien registration card and/or a final adoption decree. The alien registration card we had, but didn’t want to submit without the final adoption decree, which we didn’t think we had. The tricky thing about a final adoption decree is that it does not say “final adoption decree” ANYWHERE on it, so what you think may suffice may not (turns out it actually did) hence the wild goose chase for the mysterious, unlabeled document.
So yes, because we hadn’t submitted his alien card, we received the generic letter, which led us to believe that we were also missing the ambiguous adoption decree. The miscommunication does not stop here folks, oh no. All of this drama would have been avoidable, or at least short-lived, if we had established contact with Mr. Bunting’s assigned caseworker. But we didn’t. His caseworker had called and left a voicemail message at one point with a callback number that always went straight to some general voicemail. Mr. Bunting left numerous messages for this voicemail. He called the general passport hotline daily and left messages for his caseworker there, too. Each time he was told they would put a note in his file since they couldn’t access his caseworker’s contact information (seriously?). So we waited and called, waited and called, and began to wonder if this caseworker even existed.
Until one day, when FINALLY his caseworker called. Turns out to be a super friendly and helpful guy who never got any of our messages. This infuriates me. Someone dropped the ball over there. Multiple times. For weeks.
He apologized profusely, promised he’d personally speak to the head of the call center to see why they failed to forward any message, and then proceeded to explain to Mr. Bunting that he had the adoption decree already and if we would kindly send in his alien registration card he could be approved for a U.S. passport.
I still feel like hugging and punching at the same time. Where’s a mosh pit when you need one?
All in all, though, we were so relieved to have heard such great news and promptly put his alien card in the mail. Several days later, we were told that his passport was approved and printed. Add several more days, and there it was in the mail box. Which means we’re going on our international honeymoon, whoo-hoooooo!
Did you encounter any unexpected obstacles in your planning? Did it all work out in the end? Does anyone have a fireproof safe I can borrow to store this damned thing in?
Oh hai!
Hello my friends!
You know that feeling when you suddenly experience such a huge rush of excitement that your hands shake and your heart skips from all the adrenaline coursing through your veins? My hands are shaking, my heart is skipping, and I fear I’m going to spew verbal rainbows everywhere (I don’t know what that would look or sound like, but I may soon find out). This is a problem since I’m still at work, and if a customer comes to my counter I could very well start gibbering and dancing like a mad woman.
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I just can’t help it, though! Here I am before you as the newest bee, and hive, I am SO thrilled to be here as your Miss Bunting. So here I sit, ready to bare my soul and share it all with you…. and I find that despite being absolutely giddy with glee, I am speechless with the overwhelming pressure of writing my introductory post. What do I say? Where do I start? Okay, let’s start with Mr. Bunting’s reaction to my, well, reaction to Pengy’s e-mail. Somehow I managed to coordinate my mind with my fingers and I typed out a text message to Mr. Bunting, who promptly responded with this:
“AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!! I TOLD YOU WOULD BEE!!! HARHARHARHAR!! CONGRATS!!”
We just may love puns, and we just may be total geeks. (This is actually a two-fer for Mr. Bunting because my first name starts with the letter “B’, so one of his pet names for me is the letter as sounded out – ‘Bee’. In the words of Mr. Bunting, harharharhar!)
image by Kamp Photography via Poppytalk
So why have I chosen Miss Bunting? As you will soon find out, I have an obsession with pretty things hanging from ceilings, trees, walls, poles, and sometimes llamas. This certainly includes super-cute bunting flags, and I thought that it was a wonderful fit for both my personality and our wedding.
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(That’s me at the dolphin tank at Sea World! If I didn’t have my friend there to physically restrain me, I probably would have jumped in with them.)
So a little about me… I am a:
- graduate with a degree in Art & Design
- illustrator and web designer
- plant. okay, not really, but I do require sunshine and warmth or I’ll wither
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Now say hello to Mr. Bunting! He is a:
- graduate with a degree in History
- complete computer and video game geek
- secretly a raccoon. maybe. (he does have to wash his hands before and after each meal)
To give you a bit of background, Mr. Bunting and I started dating our junior year of high school and never looked back. We’ve been together now for over seven years, so this wedding doesn’t really come as a surprise to anyone.
personal photo, circa 2005
Aww, would you look at that, the Buntings were prom king and queen back in their day! Ironically, we didn’t even know we were prime candidates so this came as complete shock to us. And you know what Mr. Bunting’s first order of business was after being crowned king and having first dance with me? He knighted one of his friends with a toy light saber. I have no idea where that light saber came from, but like I said – total geeks.
After high school, we both attended the same university where I received my Bachelor of Fine Art in illustration and Mr. Bunting received his Bachelor of Science in history. Just a few short weeks before throwing our mortorboard caps in the air, Mr. Bunting proposed in such a gloriously romantic fashion that it deserves a post all of its own. We took a month or two to relax and simply enjoy our new engagement, and then I dove in head-first. And boy, I have not come up for air since! I must be part wedding-mermaid, because I don’t feel like I’m drowning at all. On the contrary, I am having so much fun looking for inspiration, tackling DIY projects, and organizing all the little details that my co-worker is convinced I should pursue it as a career (ha, we’ll see). It’s not that surprising since it involves a handful of things I love – details, organization, DIY crafts, installation art & design, and most importantly: Mr. Bunting.
image by Bryan & Mae Photography
We’ve been planning our wedding for a year and a half, but now it’s really crunch time and I cannot wait to share everything with you! I promise there will be a plethora of color, texture, garlands, and tissue poms (unfortunately there are no plans involving llamas).
Finger armor
Mr. Bunting and I were at the mall the other day trying to find him some dress pants for another friend’s wedding, and as we approached the jewelry arena (seriously, the way they’re all facing one another in an open square makes it a fighting arena for the sparkly) I suggested we stop by to see if Mr. Bunting’s wedding band was in. It had been several weeks since we ordered it, so even though they hadn’t called yet I speculated that it may have come in that day. I’ve had that happen to me before, on several occasions actually. (That just makes me look impatient, I know).
So we strolled on in, and this is what followed:
Clerk: Hello! May I help you with something?
Mr. Bunting: Yes, I got a call today that my ring was in.
Me: Wait. What?
Mr. Bunting simply nods.
Me: Wait. Really? Like for serious? They called you? (I think he’s lying just to get the clerk to check, which is a very odd way to have them check)
Mr. Star Wars: Yep.
Me: You didn’t tell me that!
Mr. Bunting: Surprise!
The clerk is handing over the ring at this point.
Me: Yaaaaaaay!
Aww, he wanted to surprise me! No wonder why he was keen on going to the mall (Mr. Bunting and shopping are not really friends).
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Peeking into the box…
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Oooo…. shiny! Now how about a close-up.
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I would say that I’m still more excited about his ring than he is, but that would be a complete lie. He’s already tried telling me he’s going to start wearing it. Haha. No. And then he changed his method and tried pleading with me to wear it. I told him he can’t wear an unblessed un-wedded wedding ring. (Yeah, he tried to bless it himself after that.) I may have to hide it from him.
We both love the way it looks on his hand, and are so very pleased with the purchase. Even better – it fits perfectly! Of course it should, but Mr. Bunting’s ring finger is in between sizes and we weren’t quite sure which one to go with. The ring is SK cobalt, which cannot be re-sized, so a .75 or .25 instead of .5 size wasn’t possible. It looks like we made the right size choice, though!
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It’s masculine, simple, and very very hawt. And in case you’re wondering about the title of this post, the cobalt line is called “Armor Cobalt”, which is also engraved on the inside. Unfortunately the cobalt material is too hard for engraving without a high pricetag, so that’s all that it will say. Still kinda neat, though. His wedding band will be his “armor”. Hee, we’re such geeks.
What sort of ring did your partner get?
Figuring out the flowers
I met with our florist recently to refine our order and play with some flowers (yay, flowers!). While I had provided our florist with plenty of inspiration photos that closely resembled what I wanted, this was the first time I actually got to see some of those flowers together in person. More importantly, it let me see just how our florist actually interpreted my inspiration photos. A handful of the reviews left by other brides for our florist commented on how the floral arrangements were great, but not what they originally wanted or imagined, so I really wanted to get a glimpse of what I’d be getting before the actual day. Don’t get me wrong, our florist is a lovely woman, but I do happen to be a detail-oriented control-freak when it comes to this wedding, so despite how much I got along with her I just couldn’t forget those reviews. Just as you’d do for hair and make-up, I’d suggest a trial or mock-up (if possible) for anyone who is a little concerned that what they get is not what they specified. It may make me a bit obsessive, yes, but when I can see for myself how something may look then I feel much more comfortable with letting someone else take full control. Like I said – control-freak.
image via Nazarene Blogs
Our centerpieces are comprised of mismatched vases and jars with an assortment of flowers, so each table will be a variation on a theme. I’ve spent the past year collecting milk glass and blue mason jars and our florist was generous enough to offer storage space in her studio basement. So we dug through the various bins and pulled out some select pieces to create 3-4 mock-ups with the fresh flowers she had ordered earlier that week. Some of the flowers and colors we’re using weren’t available at the time so we had to use some substitutes. We also didn’t spend a lot of time refining each piece since these were just quick mock-ups, hence some bare spots and other flaws, but I definitely got the general idea.
personal photo
They looked much better in person than in my photos, but it was so rewarding to see just how well our flower selections coordinate with each other, the vases and jars, and our quirky table runners. We could literally pick up one jar from one mock-up and move it to another, and the arrangement looked just as coordinated. That was just the assurance I needed since I won’t have any control over the centerpiece arrangements the day-of. (Our florist will be setting up the vases, jars, books, and birds on each table in addition to the flowers, which is why I wanted to see if her vision and my vision were one and the same.)
personal photo
personal photo
We forgot to bring a full table runner with us, so that bit of aqua fabric you see is a swatch Mother Bunting happened to have in her purse (thanks mom!). It may not be the real deal, but it’s enough of a taste to fuel my imagination. The craspedia paired with the polka dots on the table runner fabric make me oh-so-happy.
personal photo
personal photo
So what’s staying and what are the substitutes?
Each centerpiece will have a bit of the following:
image via Whole Blossoms
Additionally, each centerpiece with have a variation of the following:
- coral and peach peonies (shown in peach)
- white or yellow spider mums (shown in lavender)
- white and coral dahlias (not shown)
- white or pink wax flowers (shown in purple)
image via McGlauflin’s Perennials
image via Dave’s Garden
image via Total Flower Exports Pty Ltd
image via Flickr
That looks like a lot of pink and coral right now, but with the green bupleurum, yellow craspedia, and yellow or white spidermums I think it will balance out. I wanted to add ranunculus to the mix, but unfortunately it won’t be in season before our wedding.
Did you need to do a trial run with your flowers? What type of flowers are you using?
