Our Familly Sword

So for those of you who haven't heard about this part yet, one of the things that we're going to do at the wedding is make our vows on our family sword. That's very vinkingish. The only problem with this fun idea, neither of us has a sword worthy of such an honor. There are two ways to go when facing a problem like this. One is to buy a better sword than the one you already have (or just get a sword for the first time) and be happy with the idea that thousands of other people have carbon copies of your wedding sword. That's not how Nessa and I roll.


So we started looking at option two, witch is to have one made for us. A unique piece that no one else can claim they have. Believe it or not, that rout is very expensive. No joke, one of the sword makers I spoke to said that he has a 2yr wait list and his swords average out around two thousand bucks. Nice guy, good at what he does, just out of our range. I knew this going in mind you, but it was still a bit deflating when I started talking to sword makers. I was hoping to find a new maker who was still trying to get his name out there in the market. Sadly though, there are more knife makers like that than there are sword makers. By the time a guy starts making swords he already has a reputation. And reputations come with waiting lists and price tags.

So I've taken to the idea of blending the two paths into a third and just as fun, new option.

Customize the crap out of a production model!

The over all goal will be the same, a unique sword that we can say is OURS. But with the added bonus of being less than 2 Gs.

I'll keep you all up to speed as this Frankenstein labor of love starts to come together.

Our "Colors"

It is a good thing that I spent some time with FMIL this weekend. I wasn't 'feeling' the wedding blog and had planned to have EJ write a post this week. But he's sick in bed, so you're stuck with me. 'Mom' mentioned that "People are starting to ask me about your colors, like living room, kitchen, etc." so I figure I can put a bit about our home decor, in case people are going to get a jump on shopping for us. My dad asked about wedding gifts, and in a couple months EJ and I will be registering...some places (haven't decided exactly where yet, but one will most likely carry a lot of kitchen stuff).

So, the colors we decorate with, by room:
Kitchen

I was originally inspired by the pots&pans fabric (featured on the right in the picture); mostly blues, and I've thrown in yellow (because it's bright and cheery! and I enjoy cooking, and the kitchen makes me happy!) with a smattering of light green, but not too much. In the pic are 3 potholders I've made, as well as a hanging dishcloth (the multi blue-green-yellow yarn is all over our kitchen, probably the best indicator of the colors I like to use in there).

I have a (royal?) blue KitchenAid mixer Dad got me for christmas a few years ago; and I pretty much built my kitchen colors around that. Our dishes are white, and blue+white patterned (but we're thinking of changing that, maybe keeping some of the dishware we're collecting for the reception and mixing that in). EJ has a huge set of clear blue glass dishes and bowls and stuff...but most of it has been packed since we met (!) so I don't know what most of it looks like. The stuff we do use of his fits well into the blue palette.
Living Room

 

These two items: a crocheted blanket I made for EJ, and a handworked piece of pottery we bought at the Ren Faire a few years back, are the best representation of how we *want* to decorate the living room. We're talking denim blues, amber (orangey-brown), although the one area rug we could find that we could afford is black-brown-tan, but it fits in OK. Most of our furniture is now dark-ish wood; the couch is tan with a floral print, but I really hope to someday recover it with denim. I'm afraid it's going to fall apart before that happens, though. Right now the living room just looks like a bunch of stuff thrown together; but denim + amber + dark wood is where we are headed.

Bedroom

I have a stripey tray (white + stripes) that I based our bedroom colors off of...but I can't locate the tray right now so here is a scrap afghan I crocheted from yarns that match the colors on the tray. I have a quilt top I've pieced with the same colors, it is navy blue and sky blue with accents of the other colors (purples, oranges, greens, gold, yellow, some browns, magenta, pinky-purples) but although I know *exactly* where that is, I refuse to dig for it today. My original plan was to go girly-colors with it, then I met EJ and we moved in together and I figured he would not so much appreciate a girly bedroom. So I use the stripe colors as accents, with the blue dominant. Bedroom walls are painted a cafe au lait color, same as in our old place and we agreed we like this color permanently in the bedroom. The wood furniture we have is currently light wood. 

Bathroom: is easy. Green! Our bathroom is too small for me to get a decent picture of it, and I'm not in the mood to pull out the towels and vanity stuff to take a picture, but rest assured that pretty much any shade of green fits in. It is my favorite color (why did I not use this in a main living area? I do not know, but I didn't), and I found a vanity set clearanced at Mervyn's about 15 years ago, and the bathroom has been green ever since. EJ and I spent one after-christmas sale period running around trying to find two sets of towels from Target in complimentary shades of a sagey-green; we went to FIVE different stores to compile a complete set...and then the towels fell apart and faded all weird in about 3 washings. We still use them, and we *refuse* to get rid of them because we Spent. So. Much. Time. looking for them, but we have both agreed that at some point we will have new towels, possibly ones that don't fall apart so quickly.

So hopefully this helps anyone out with planning, or if they're curious, or what have you. We both *really* like handmade things, so anything that anyone makes for us (I'm looking at YOU, 'Mom', and YOU, Misha!) is especially treasured; and of course the whole medieval/Viking vibe is present in stuff we own.

In other wedding news, 'Mom' and I went craft-shopping this weekend and I picked up some more fabric, and added a few more addresses to our guest list, but that's about it. We're going to the Highland Festival next weekend and will pick up some fabric for EJ's outfit, so that is something to look forward to!

One Month Down...

One more thing we have accomplished so far:

The basis for our guest book. (mug not included in the planning, use, or archiving of said book) This has the added benefit of providing one additional responsibility for a Minion, but I am pretty sure s/he will be overjoyed with their responsibilities (seriously - I'm playing to my Minions' strengths).

Just don't ask me about the guest list, StDs, venue, or photographer right now...eep!

And then there was cake!!!

So as part of my job of handling the cake is making and eating cake. Tough job. We've decided what the top layer of cake will be and the shape it will be. That part was easy. We're using my spice cake recipe, since it's Nessa's fave. But since my mom is going to be the one actually making the cake I made the hike over to her pad (literaly I walked there) and gave her my recipe. Then for the fun and flavor of it all I took over part of her kitchen  and then we made a test run cake.

This was done for two reasons. First, so that when it come time for mom to make THE CAKE it will not be an entirely new recipe for her. And second, so we can eat it. Duh!

And since mom is a fantastic cook and baker in her own right, there was realy nothing to do in the demo/teaching department. About the only thing that was a point of interest was to find out how thick the batter is at the end. Aside from that, there was no real purpose other than we wanted to eat some cake.

Speaking of eating cake, we did, and it tasted good. Even grandma likes it. And Gran is a little picky these days as to what she likes. So I guess the top layer of the cake is Gran tested and Nessa approved. Off to a good start in my book. Now onto the next 17 layers!

Or was that 7?

Or maybe just 4?

Well, on to the NEXT layer! How's that? Yeah, that works.

It's Getting To Us All...

::sighs::
This whole endless wedding-planning thing is getting to us all...even to the cats.

What you can't see in the picture is Roshi making tiny, sad "Mew?" noises. Surrounded by magazines, tear sheets, and listslistslists.

Planning, Planning

This past week has seen my un-eventful return to work after five weeks off (not for fun - medical reasons). Which also means, not a lot going on on the wedding planning front. But we tried to make up for it once I got home on Friday!

Every Friday is now officially "Happy Hour Friday" in our house. It gives us a chance to try out new cocktail recipes and preview potential candidates for hors d'oeuvres and dishes we will be serving at the reception. Hey - when you're catering it yourself, you have to find *some* way to have "tastings" LOL

That reminds me - EJ needs to make his spice cake for FMIL, so we can all taste it, and she can make it herself (so we can all taste it!). I think he has some plan to have "Mom" bake a cake every 2 weeks leading up to the wedding...!

We also visited one thrift store on Friday, and ::5:: today, to pick up bits and pieces of decor, tableware, and fabric. We did a fairly good job, although it is very difficult to find (1) forks that are not crap, and (2) sheets that are not yellow, green, pink, or kid-related. I know we have quite a bit of time to continue to shop (avoiding looking at the Countdown meter at the bottom of the page!) but we figure if we get it in bits and pieces throughout the year it won't be as big of a hit on our wallets, and we can be a bit picky-choosy, at least for now!

I have also been eyeing the wedding dresses I find at the different thrift stores. Partly to see if I find something that will work (I have other plans, I do not want to look like a lace cake, or as one poster on IndieBride said, a giant marshmellow!), partly to oggle the construction; and partly because I think about the history that comes along with that dress...one of the reasons I like to thrift shop is because nearly everything there has passed through hands before coming into mine, and I feel a sense of connection with these others, even if I never know exactly what. I like these dresses because I think that they served their purpose, witnessed the joining of two folks who are now old and gray, and are ready to see another couple through their vows!

But like I said, I have my own plans for my dress. Unlike EJ (who has changed his mind 5 times so far, the only thing I'm certain of is that he will be wearing his Burns clan check in *some* manner), I have a pretty clear picture of what I will be wearing for the ceremony and Par-Tay! afterwards.

Because I'm making my own duds, I will be working on a prototype of sorts to figure out different techniques and practice before I make an entire dress (or, top and skirt. That part *is* still up in the air until I pick a pattern). I am very enamored with NatalieChanin and the type of clothing she offers (even wedding dresses! but *so* out of my price range!) So, I am starting with this:

three cotton t-shirts from the thrift store, a bunch of beads and sequins from my stash, buttonhole thread, scissors, and a bit of imagination, and will turn it all into an appliqued, embellished shirt. Then, once I have my skill set down, and pattern in hand, I will put together my wedding ensemble. I am pretty excited!

Who knew...

Who knew that Bridal Shows could be fun? I'm not saying it was a blast and a half, but it was kinda fun. Between all the free food, the (few) fun people manning the booths, and the loads and loads of great ideas just sitting out in the open to be emmulated by the DIY crowd (namely Nessa) it was great. Did I mention the free food? There were booths that belonged to people who didn't even handle catering and they had cake out for grabs. Was almost confusing. One of the best things I ate was given out by a booth for vacation packages or something like that. No catering, but good food.
Go figure.
Speaking of cake, it has fallen onto me to be in charge of the whole cake thing. I say "fallen onto me" but realy I snatched it up from the get-go. I'll admit I'm kinda passive on a lot of the planning and designing stuff, but I wanted to have a hand (or just a few fingers) in the food department. One of the things I love about Nessa is that she is letting me run with this cake thing. And the pig thing too, she is suportive of that as well. If you didn't know, we're planning on having pig at the reception. I've always wanted to do a pit roasted pig, and now I get to do it.
I love her.
But like I was saying, the cake is the fun project of the moment. I think I've narrowed down how I want it to look. There was some tweaking of my original thoughts after seeing some stuff at the show, I won't lie. But the visual concept is solid. Now all I have to do is decide on the flavors, colors, and number of layers. I'm thinking 4 layers plus the topper. I guess I could go with 5 layers plus the topper, but I'm not that mean to the baker. Or am I?
Well that's one Bridal Show down and who knows how many more to go. But I'm glad to say that it was fun enough to make me look forward to the next one (whenever it is). I mean, you can never have too much free cake.