Peek-A-Boo!

Recently I have been giving some thought to our wedding day timeline.

When we first started planning many of the vendors we met with raved about doing a "first-look" and taking a majority of our formals before our ceremony. Now, I tend to lean toward the traditional and instantly scoffed at the idea of chillin' with Mr. Coyote before the ceremony. And yet, everyone I talked to trying to persuade me. Even my parents thought it was a good idea! I agree that logistically it makes sense to get all those photos out of the way so we can enjoy our cocktail hour, mingle with our guests, EAT SOMETHING! But c'mon, where's the romance in that?! I always envisioned myself rounding the corner, trying not to trip down the aisle, locking eyes with my soon-to-be husband for the first time...

But then I started to think about the day itself and how fast it goes. I mean, we only get a 5 hour reception and I'm going to give up almost an hour of it just take photos? For some silly tradition? The rational part of me did not approve of this scenario. The rational part of me wants to eat some awesome hors d'oeuvres and visit with our guests who have come to celebrate with us.

As the months went by and I read about the many brides who did a first-look, stalked their photos and I started to think that maybe it wasn't so bad. I mean, we can still have that special moment together, where Mr. C sees me for the first time. And we have the added benefit of it being a private moment between us (oh and our photographers of course) without 150 pairs of eyes watching and staring.

Plus how could not I not fall in love with a first-look when I see photos like these:

Image via Mrs. Poodle on Wedding Bee / Photo by Next Exit Photography

Image via Future Mrs. Martin on Wedding Bee / Photo by Toogood Studios

I have to admit that every day, with every first-look photo I see, I lean a little bit more toward having one with Mr. Coyote. And if, at the last minute, I decide that I still want to save that special look for our walk down the aisle there is always Mrs. Hyena's "non first-look":

Image via Mrs. Hyena on Wedding Bee / Photo by Danny Boyle Photography

What's your take on the first-look? Are you doing one or are you saving your "first-look" for the ceremony?

Flowers in Her Hair...

Flowers everywhere!

Okay, maybe not everywhere, but definitely in my hair.

I still haven't completely decided what kind of accessories I want for the wedding day. I'm sure a veil will make an appearance at some point, but for the meantime... I can't help but be smitten with hair flowers. I have found so many beautiful ones, but they all seemed a bit pricey. I know many a bee has made their own, so I thought I might try to tackle this simple DIY.

I made a few trips to Michael's to gather all of my supplies and then I got started. I used a fake flower, lace ribbon, a sparkly brooch, an alligator clip and a needle and thread.

(Personal Photo) / There are some alligator clips somewhere on this table, but I think they are hiding behind that mountain of lace.

My fave tutorial so far came from whitesonnet's post on our very own DIY boards. I was so absorbed with finishing this project that I only randomly snapped photos while I was making it, so I suggest you check out her tutorial for better photos and explanations. I'll do my best though!

First, I took apart the flower and separated the petals. Then I rolled out some ribbon, pinned one of the petals to it and cut out a few lacy petals.

 (Personal Photo)

I played with the arrangement for a while until I found something I liked:

 

(Personal Photo)

Then it was time to sew! I used a simple stitch and sewed the petals together. Then I began to sew the brooch on as well. (The brooch is quite heavy so I later went back and reinforced it with glue.)

Finally, I sewed the alligator clip to the bottom of the flower. And of course, did not take photos of any of this. I did take lotsa photos of the final product though... Wanna see?!

(Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

(Personal Photo)

I am kinda super in love with it and have been resisting the urge to wear it every time I leave the house.

Plus I managed to keep the total cost under $15 (thank you Michael's and your amazing 50% coupons!) so no complaints here!

Well, okay, I do have one little complaint. I only used a teeny tiny bit of that huge spool of lace ribbon. What on earth am I going to do with it all? Any ideas?!

DIY Goddess

DIY Goddess I am not. We're lucky I can hem a pair of pants Oh wait, I can't. I bring them up to my Mom and have her do them for me. Dang. Anyways, because I am not a DIY girl whenever I accomplish the simplest of tasks I start to think that I am Martha-Freaking-Stewart. This is one of those times.

The other day I saw this ridiculously awesome DIY for rubber stamps. You can check out the tutorial here.

Image via The Sweetest Occasion

SO CUTE! I freakin' fell off my chair from excitement when I saw it. Now, I still do not understand the mustache trend, but I just knew that I could totally make something with this. I hunted around for a little bit and found two never-been-used-before erasers in my desk. SCORE! 

After printing out what I wanted the stamp to look like I practiced tracing my design a few times on a piece of paper. Then I used a pencil to trace it onto the eraser.

(Personal Photo)

And now came the fun part. I started cutting away at the eraser so only the lettering remained. (The tutorial suggests using an X-Acto knife... I concur.)

My design was a little more complicated than a mustache, but I figured I could handle it. Just remember... if you decide to use letters or numbers you will need to print them backwards on the stamp.

Now start carvin':

(Personal Photo)

I started to carve along the bottom and then made my way around the top.

(Personal Photo)

Carving out the individual letters was the most difficult part, especially the "e" and the fancy parts of the "L".

(Personal Photo)

Somehow I managed to accomplish this with minimal personal injuries. Hooray! I grabbed a little stamp pad that I had found in the $1 bins at Michael's...

(Personal Photo)

And gave it a go!

(Personal Photo)

Not too shabby! You can see where I got lazy around the "e", but no big deal, I just went back and carved a bit more off the eraser at that end and BAM! Perfection!

Oh and remember our love potato story? I also recently learned that you can do this with potatoes! Add that to the list of reasons why potatoes are better than flowers. ;-)

Image via OverBlog

Since this ended up being such a quick and simple little project I might make one with our wedding date on it or our initials. The possibilities are endless! 

Now I just have to figure out what to use this cute little thing for. Stamp it on the wedding envelopes? Maybe our wedding day stationary? Or on favor boxes? 

What do you think?

And to Top it All Off...

Mr. C and I just cannot decide on a cake topper. Mostly because I kinda hate them and he kinda thinks they're awesome.

For a long time I had been envisioning just a few blooms arranged on the top of the cake. Something small and simple, like this:

Image via Elizabeth Anne Designs / Photo by Susan Stripling Photography

Or maybe even our new initial?

Image via Have 2 Have It on Etsy

But where I see something as simple and classic Mr. C sees it as booooor-ing. I think he would be happier  with something a little more... unique. Like this:

Image via yumsugar

Okay, okay I'm kidding. But I do know that he would probably love to put something like this on top of the cake:

Image via Awesome Toppers on Etsy

Unfortunately, I don't think my grandmother will appreciate Mr. C's sense of humor on this one.

And yes, while I do find the Domo cake topper freakin' hilarious I think it will leave a majority of our guests scratching their heads.

Image via The Air Castle on Etsy

(Sidenote: This Etsy seller has created so many different animal toppers... Maybe she would be interested in tackling a coyote or two? Hmmm....)

In the meantime, we have been on the hunt for something that will show off our personalities without totally offending our guests.

Maybe something classy like this?

 Image via Bridal Xpress

Hee. Okay, the back can be our little secret. ;)

I think this "two peas in a pod" cake topper is totally adorbs even if it doesn't match our wedding colors at all.

Image via Lesley Wellington on Etsy

I'm also kinda in love with this Mickey & Minnie topper:

Image via Fairly Tale Wedding Store / SO CUTE!

Or what about a customized cake topper? So far I've only seen toppers with dogs, but I'm sure someone out there will be willing to recreate a little kitty for us too.

Image via Greetings from Mars on Etsy

The more I keep looking the harder it is to make a decision! So tell me Hive, are you having a cake topper? What will you be using?

Oooh That Smell

Can't ya smell that smell?

Yeah, that'll be stuck in your head allllll day. You're welcome! ;)

I have seen the topic come up a few times and I wanted to chat a bit about wedding day scents and the type of perfume you're going to wear that day.

Some brides wear the same thing they wear everyday. Usually because they love it, their significant other loves it and it's something familiar.

Sometimes they look for something new and different. Scents often trigger memories and feelings of nostaglia. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to take a whiff of your perfume and be transported back to one of the happiest days of your life?

And then there's me.

I won't be wearing any perfume for our wedding day. Now, I don't normally wear perfumes, but on a special occasion I have been known to splash on a lil somethin' sweet.

That is, until I met Mr. Coyote and his extremely sensitive olfactory receptors.

Image via Educate Your Senses / This is how you smell things!

Anything with even the slightest scent will send the dude into a tailspin -- and sometimes it's not just scents. Mr. Coyote even suffers from ACHOO snydrome - a totally ridiculously named, but completely legitimate condition that causes you to sneeze when exposed to bright lights (usually the sun).

The point is... Even if I spray a few squirts of perfume on the opposite side of the apartment with the door closed and the windows open, Mr. Coyote's superhuman odor detection sense tingles. He sneezes, his eyes water, and even worse, he bitches and moans about it for an hour.

And so, there will be no wedding day perfume for Miss Coyote. At first I was kinda bummed about it, but is it worth it to smell pretty if my poor groom is all sniffling and sneezing at the altar? I guess not.

Plus, I figure I must smell pretty darn good without perfume if Mr. C is willing to hang around me all the time (without sneezing, coughing and cursing) so it might not be that bad to go au naturel on my wedding day.

Is anyone else forgoing perfume on their wedding day?