Thursday, May 14, 2009

Madison or Anna II?

On our first trip to Macy's to register Mr Frenchie and I decided not to register for China, but to get a nice set of everyday plates. We didn't want to not get things we really needed, like everyday plates and a vacuum, because our guests decided to get us china. We decided on a casual china line by Wedgewood called "Eternity".
eternity
From the start we've known we wanted plain white plates, you know something that will go with anything, no matter what the theme... because we're always thinking "would this work for entertaining?"
After talking to Mama Frenchie, she convinced us (and I'm glad she did) that we needed Fancy China. Yes, we probably wont get the whole she-bang for our wedding, but this is something we can add on to over the years. So, back to Macy's we went one afternoon, just to find a china pattern.
FH liked the more eleborate patterns and I like the more simple patterns and somehow we ended up with a great compromise (at a reasonable price), with the Federal Platinum pattern by Lenox.
lenoxfederalplatinum
The very helpful, Bonnie, in the Bridal Department at the Macy's Home store at South Coast Plaza also pointed out to us that this pattern lended itself nicely to incorporating accent plates from other patterns. Such as these two from Kate Spade:
1 - Larabee Road
larabee-road
2 - June Lane
junelane

I'm leaning towards Larabee Road.

Now that we had "fancy china" we didn't need to spend (or ask our guest to spend) that much on everyday china, now did we?

Luckily we'll find any excuse we can to walk around Crate & Barrel with "the gun" and found ourselves there the following weekend. On this trip we decided on the Madison dinnerware line. We liked Madison for a couple reasons: 1) it's white; 2) it is cheaper than the Wedgewood; 3) it's not made in China (Mr Frenchie has been making an effort not to register for too many items made outside the US, especially in China) and 4) we liked it.
madison
(Pssst... over here! This actually made me happier because, and this is between you and me, I never really liked the Wedgewood. What? it had weird Ws on it.)

So, done right? Wrong. This past weekend Mr Frenchie and I found ourselves at our favorite, Crate & Barrel, once again. We walked past the dinnerware and Mr Frenchie said he wanted to switch to these plates called Anna II.
annaii
The Mr scanned one of the plates and I went online this morning and swiched everything from Madison over to Anna II. Of course afterI switched them all over I noticed - these plates are pricey! Not super pricey, but pricer than the Madison plates. So, if we don't have a strong feeling one way or the other, shouldn't we go with the least expensive plate? I've left the decision up to Mr Frenchie.

Have you changed a an item on your registry more than once? Can you not put-the-gun-down?

Engagement Pictures

Okay, you've seen our lovely Sneaky Peak and you know you're all super jealousy of the Ugly Hug Face *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. So, lets move on to the less ugly more glamorous shots. 

All photos by the VERY talents folks at Ohana Photography and used with their permission.

Earlier this month Mr Frech Bulldog and I met David, Kimi and April of Ohana Photography at The Montage Laguna Beach, where you may remember Mr Frenchie proposed.
Here we are on that very bench.


Looking at the photos I am continually amazed with how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful area.


Here are a couple favorites from their blog...






and the glamour shot...


Check out that SKY!
Thank you David, Kimi and April you've made two big time "blinkers" look pretty good :)

Did you take engagement pictures? What significance did your location hold?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Ladies Who Lunch... With Their Bridesmaids

About a year ago, or more... it was definitely before Mr Frenchie proposed, BM J's mom (we'll call her Auntie S) generously offered to host my Bridesmaid's Lucheon. Once it was decided that our wedding would be in San Diego, BM J and Auntie S started brainstorming where to host the luncheon. I knew the restaurant would be fancy because Auntie S doesn't mess around, just look at where BM J had her luncheon (more than 5 years ago)...

las-brisas1 

But I had no idea it would this fantastic! Check out the the first place they suggested, Georges California Modern in La Jolla.

georges 

Whether we end up inside or outside (we all prefer outside) this place is perfect for a lunch with all my ladies, FMIL Frenchie, FSIL Frenchie and out of town guests.

I know some people do the Bridesmaid Luncheon differently, since BM J's was the first one I went to I've always know it as an event hosted by a close family friend where you invite the BMs (of course), your future female in-laws and any female out-of-town guests that are in town. But, I know some Bride's host their own luncheon and just invite their BMs, I've also been to one of these and it was a lot of fun and very intimate.

Are you doing a Bridesmaid's Luncheon? Who hosts it? Who do you invite?

Blog Inspiration

Grey Likes Weddings posted this weeks ago and I've had it "kept as new" in my Google reader since...
sohappy
Source The Love Shop

I held onto the post because I liked the picture (it's our wedding colors and it has a bird), but silly me didn't get around to actually reading the post until today. Grey, suggests using love taglines for the front of your programs - I LOVE IT!

What are your favorite blog for inspiration?

Guess Who Flew in Yesterday?

If you guested our cake topper by Etsy seller SueBeeHB, you're right! I received an email from Sue on Tuesday letting me know she had mailed the birds and THE NEXT DAY they arrived at home! Granted I only live about 25 miles from Sue, but I was still excited. They came in a cute box that reminded me of a Twitter question Sara with Stinkerpants Designs asked a few weeks ago regarding the packing she mailed her cards with and I stand corrected it is more exciting when something comes in a fun package.
birdsbox1
I would still have been really excited to receive them in the just the priority mail box, but the special packaging made them seem more homemade and from the heart.
Inside the birds were nestled in safely...
nestledbirds1
You can see FH's birdie there on top.
and here we they are...
birdies2
See FH's yellow bout! I can't get over how cute they are!
Okay, last one, here they are on their base...
birdswbase2
What is your favorite wedding purchase so far?

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Ugly Hug Face

You've seen Ugly Cry Face, Ugly Surprise Face and the more recent Ugly Laugh face. I bring you Ugly Hug Face...
uglyhugface

We got our Engagement Pictures back from our very talented (and a blast to hang out with) photographers, Ohana Photography. I'm going through a selecting some of my favorites to share with you, so this was your sneaky peak.

Engagement Party Invite DIY

Way back in December of 2008 Mama and Daddy Frenchie threw Mr Frenchie & I an engagement party. The idea of the invite started with a picture taken by the very talented Jessica Claire at the wedding of my very good friend Tiffany Michelle. FH and I had been dating about 2 months when Tiffany married her awesome hubbers, Dan, and Jessica caught this shot of us laughing on the dance floor.

laughing
It has been my mothers favorite phote ever since and she wanted it incorporated into the invite, here is what we came up with and how...

Supplies
Card Stock - I printed 2 invites on one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of card stock.
Matte Photo Paper - I printed several photos on one sheet. I chose matte because I just prefer the finish.
Envelopes - 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" (8.5" x 11" folded in half)
3D Dots - These are dots used to make stuff pop out. My mom bought them not knowing how much we'd need, but I'd figure 2 dots a popping thing.

X-Acto Knife - I guess a paper cutter would work for this also, I'm just used to using an X-Acto Knife for school.
X-Acto Knife safe straight-edge Cutting Mat - You know, so you don't cut your mother's dinning table pad.

First I cut the invite sheets in half...

Then I cut all the photos out, leaving no border...

Next Mr Frenchie put two dots on the back of each photo, one at the top middle and one at the bottom middle, and placed the photo in the top center of the invite.

Ta-Da the finished product!

How did you get your Wedding DIY feet wet?