In the News

I'm slowly recovering from the mental fog of this week. The crazy thing about timing is that while JT and I have been putting aside a lot of wedding related discussion to focus on what is going on with our families, our wedding plans have been getting much attention online.

I was thrilled to see that our save-the-date cards designed by Inkfancy were featured on Brooklyn Bride this past week!

And I was really touched to see Fight the Fondant discussed on our florist's blog as well.

These little bits of internet appreciation helped with what was a very difficult week, which is why I'm making an effort to return to regular posting more quickly than I thought I would. My posts here are a tiny way of grounding myself each day. I never intended for this blog to be personal*...I meant for it to be a helpful guide for other brides, a demonstration that you can navigate the beach-ceremony-hotel-ballroom-wedding scene that is San Diego in your own unique way.

But over the coming months, you may begin to see more personal aspects creeping in. Particularly about reconciling weddings with difficult family times, trying balance joy and fear, hope and despair. I'll try not to get too off topic and keep up the fun wedding planning tips and stories, but I hope you'll indulge me the occasional philosophical discussion on how to plan a wedding in the midst of pain and turmoil.

Thanks to everyone for the support! More fun things to come soon, I promise.

*If you want to see a truly personal blog about what my family is going through, please visit my sister's blog: bits of myself.

Temporary Hiatus

Hi friends,

I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm going to be taking a temporary hiatus (I'm guessing at least a week or two) from this blog. Our families need us right now, so I won't have much time for posting.

Thanks for reading...I hope I won't be away for long.

Send Me Your Jars!

That's right, it's more than a blog post -- it's a call to action. I need to collect as many mason jars as possible for the floral arrangements. I'll continue to troll Ebay, Craigslist, thrift shops and garage sales, but if you happen to be reading this and thinking "hey, I've got a bunch of old jars that I don't need," I'd be happy to put them to good use.

They don't even need to be mason jars, per se. Any cool, old-looking clear glass vessel will do. And it doesn't matter if it has writing on it either, so long as the writing is either in green, brown or yellow. If you happen to have anything to contribute to the cause, please drop me a line!

Feathers Win

In the great flowers v. feathers debate, feathers have won.

I have ordered a semi-custom made hair piece from Portobello on Etsy. I say "semi" custom because I'm basically asking her to replicate this item that was previously sold in her store but isn't currently:

Because each one is handmade, I'm sure it won't look exactly like this. But that's part of the beauty of it. I'm also very excited about another custom designed accessory that I'm ordering through an Etsy designer...but I'm not going to tell you about it. Like my dress, I'm trying to keep some secrets about my ensemble for the big day!

Cool Photog Coming to San Diego

Our engagement photo shoot is just around the corner, so I've been spending a lot of time checking out great couple photos for inspiration.

You may have seen Jill Thomas' work on some of the major wedding blogs already (Once Wed and Green Wedding Shoes for starters). But after checking out her website, I noticed one very important fact: she is relocating to San Diego this summer!

Obviously we have already found a photographer that we love (yay, Aaron!), but if you are looking for a cool photog for your event, she seems like a great bet (and reasonable priced, too!).

CAKE!

That's the name of the bakery that we ended up booking: simply CAKE. We went to a tasting appointment with them over the weekend and were impressed by how the execute the basics of quality cake so flawlessly. We tried four of their most requested flavor combinations -- an almond cake with berries and vanilla cream, an excellently done vanilla and strawberry combo, a decadent chocolate with chocolate mousse and truffle filling, and one of their most popular, the banana truffle.

Their system is that they have several types of cake and several types of fillings that you can mix and match. The cake options include apple and pear spice, cheesecake, espresso, banana, poppyseed, excellent chocolates and vanillas, and more. The filling options include a wide variety of chocolate mousses and truffle, mocha, hazelnut, custards, and fruit fillings. Between all the options, you could create exactly what you want.

We'll probably do some combo of decadent chocolate and a sweet, simple vanilla and fruit (they don't charge any extra to do different flavors on the different tiers!). The banana truffle was delicious, but I'm not sure it compliments our menu.

Design-wise, you know my distaste for fondant, both in taste and appearance. CAKE does amazing buttercream designs. Again, simple, but expertly executed. Ours will feature a clean, art deco-style dot pattern like on this cake:

It will also include some natural elements from our florist as well as our awesome cake topper.

Run Into Flowers*

We met with Che Bella again this weekend to go over some more details. I love selecting vendors that have an artistic vision, especially when it comes to areas that I know nothing about, like flowers. Our floral landscape will include:

Crespedia

Ladies Mantle

Chocolate Dahlias (I'm told that these are technically black dahlias, but because of the whole murder connection, most florists don't call them that anymore)

Yellow Yarrow

Scabiosa Pods (I had never seen them before, but I LOVE them!)

*Yes, M83's "Run into Flowers" is indeed on our wedding playlist.