gocco invitations

omg, it's been way too long since i posted. so much has happened!

first of all, we started making our invitations. now, i'm a total gocco newbie. for those of you who don't know what a gocco is, let me update you. a gocco is a japanese screenprinting machine that's no longer being manufacturered, so you have to buy them by auction only. i paid about $250 for mine on ebay and it came with a variety of ink colors too. i did one test with the machine to make sure it worked (made thank you cards) and then i basically spent the next month just learning everything i could about the machine and tips and tricks, etc.

so...first we printed the background of our invite. green was the one color we didn't have, so my fiance got work mixing blue, yellow and a bit of white paint together.



that blue thing on the coffee table is the gocco.


so, basically they looked like this:


i sure wish i had invested in those drying racks!



ok, then we both came down with the flu! so...almost 2 full weeks later, we began the challenge of printing the text.



we fell in love with that apple green color when my fiance mixed it, but the next day i realized that it would make our text super hard to read. whoops!

our names were supposed to be in a really pretty pink!


obviously, that didn't really work. :-( so in the end, we printed all the text in brown.


here they are once again drying. *sigh*



after this, we still have to print the little 2 birdies in pink! agh!!!


here's my fiance working on the stamping process. he looks stressed...and uh...that's because the process was pretty stressful for us...especially in our tiny 100 degree apartment! (not to mention the fact that we're both just pretty stressed in general right now).



tomorrow we print the r.s.v.p. cards!

i'm back!

okay, i've been m.i.a. since february, i know. sorry about that. i've been having major computer problems for a few months and well...i have a habit of starting blogs and stopping. sad but true. :-( but alas- i've returned! reason? i found out today that one of my coworkers got engaged last night! fun to share! what's really wacky is that yesterday, she and i were just talking about the whole topic in the office ladies room! such a weird coicidence! so anyway, that inspired me to get back to the blog. so lemme catch y'all up.

1) i bought a dress! and that's a whole story in itself. i fell IN LOVE with one dress at kleinfelds (know the place? they shoot "say yes to the dress" there. thankfully, there were no cameras there that day. phew)! anyway, they had it in my size and it was gorgeous. but i had to do all kinds of things to the darn thing like raise the neckline, open up the cup size, blah, blah, blah. this is in addition to the regular alterations.

my mom came into town for a couple of hours (literally) and i felt pressured to just find something. we went to rk bridal and i was SO excited to show her the dress! but alas- they didn't have it in my size to dry on so i couldn't show her. :-( plus...they basically told me that the changes i needed made was impossible. apparently, the designer is known for having sexy necklines. which doesn't go well with big busted women...ugh. and although kleinfelds said they could do it- it would have cost me a fortune and i didn't have the budget for that, so i had to walk away from it. :-( i was DEVESTATED. honestly. ever fall in love with a car and then realize that you can't have it? ya...it sucks. royally. so i ended up with another dress that looks really beautiful but has a little more sparkle and bling than i would like. they told me i can ask the seamstress to remove some of the sequins when it arrives, which i'm definitely going to do. everyone kept telling me that i should sparkle because it's my wedding day but i'm like uh...no...i'm not that girly. no sparkle, please. ick. so...it should arrive in july or so. i'll keep you posted.

2) i booked hair! my wedding planner hooked me up with a vendor named diana from valley stream and she was super nice. we tried and up do and a down do. i'm still waiting for those pics...i should probably email her. hmmm.

3) i invested in a gocco! if you don't know what that is, i'll tell ya. it's a nifty little japanese screenprinting machine! they don't make them anymore so you have to buy them on auction like on ebay, etc. i plan on making some cool things with that thing...if only i can get started with it.

i've been really busy with work lately and i'm also prepping to teach a university course...so my mind is all scattered. still left: makeup and florist. meeting one of each in the next 2 weeks! also still have to do our engagement shoot! ack!!!

ok so much more to say but i gotta skadaddle.

caio for now.

ok, so i recently picked up some paint chips from a local paint store so i could sit down with my man and really make some freaking decisions! of course, he kept changing his mind (as was i)...then i called my mom who told me i needed to consider what flowers were in season, ugh! anyway...long story short: we have colors! (yay)!

*drumroll*

chocolate brown
stem green/granny apple green
mauve/rose/pink

horray for these colors!

we also made a trip to crate and barrel today so we could actually see what we wanted to register for and got one of those fun product scanner gun thingies. always wanted to do that! of course, our favorite dinnerware set was discontinued! ugh. we finally settled on another one. but then when i got home, i went online to see if there were any duplicates, etc. and none of our stuff from the store showed up on our registry! that was tres annoying. i'm going to wait a day to see if maybe it takes time to upload...otherwise, i'll just have to reregister for things...good thing i printed out our list of goodies at the store!

in other news, i've been going crazy about this whole invitation thing. my coworker freaked me out this week by coming up to me and saying, "your save the dates were sooooooo nice, but now you have to top them with your invitations. they can't just be regular invitations." eugh? darn it! she's right! here's a cute invite i found on etsy...but is this too winter and not fall-like?

oh! so my latest idea was to actually print my invites on fabric! my mom, of course, thinks this is the stupidest idea in the world...but whatever. i discovered a whole new way you can print on fabric. listen to this!!!! apparently, you can iron fabric to a piece of regular ol' freezer paper, then stick it into your ink jet printer and voila- you've printed on fabric! i know it sounds too good to be true but here's one of many links that demonstrates it:

http://hazelruthes.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-to-print-on-fabric.html

i can't really wrap my brain around the whole envelope deal though. and i'd have to put a regular ol' rsvp card in there and hotel card, etc. and my mom just keeps saying, "who wants a piece of fabric?" ugh...she just doesn't get it. oh and also- there's a product called bubble jet set that helps prevent fading, etc. so i visited a store right around the corner from my office that i've always wanted to go into but was too afraid to enter called City Quilter. they were SO helpful there! i picked up my muslin fabric and bubble jet set and if i wake up at a decent hour, i'll test that method out. on the other hand, i don't know why i want to freaking make everything. like i have time for this! ugh. i just really like being crafty, gosh darn it! and besides, while i was at the city quilter, i picked up a class calendar and might actually take a sewing class there later this month! :-)

omg, while writing this i suddenly diverted to theknot.com and just wasted 1 hour of my life! must publish!

Save the Date!

finally, my save the date cards are finished. yay!

what a process! take a look:




again, these were totally inspired by the stds i found online by kelley and terrell. i just tried to put a new spin on them. like k&t, we used moo cards for the photos.

now, if only my fiance would give me all of his addresses!

hopes & dreams

tonight we met with another photographer. she was super nice, someone i could probably be friends with even. we are so torn...we just don't know which photographer to go with. ugh, decisions!

anyway, my moo cards arrived today in the mail. the photos didn't come out as nice as i imagined. they are matte and the contrast is pretty low. nevertheless, i think they'll look okay on the save the date cards i designed. now, if only my fiance would get his butt in gear and make phone calls to get the addresses he needs to give me!

on another note, i'm bummed that i shelled out money to get a wedding website because i just saw this website and these are super cute: http://offbeatbride.nearlyweds.com/templates

how cute his this from tinatarnoff on etsy?

and look at these lovely charms from cherrycreek on etsy!

and i really like the top part of this dress, even though it's not white...

we saw candles just like this the other idea at our local coffee shop! they are just led lights put inside this paper! and you can pick any decorative paper you want. check out how pretty they look!


i was going to say something about yummy chocolate covered pretzels as favors, but i have a feeling i can't afford them (*sigh*).

off like a prom dress...
nite.

rabbi & photographers

so, a lot has been accomplished in the past few days!

1) we talked to a rabbi. my fiance isn't jewish but he doesn't really identify with any religion. he believes in god and jesus...but isn't sure what he is. AND my mom really wants us to get married by a rabbi and well, it would feel familiar to me so i like the idea. luckily, joe says since my mom is paying for this whole freaking thing, we should do what she wants. haha. so we're going to have an interfaith ceremony leaning towards judiasm. we'll have a chupa and joe will break glass, etc. in fact, we're also going to have a ketubah (jewish marriage contract)!

2) we met with one photographer tonight. and we liked him. tomorrow night, our planner is taking us out on the island to meet with another one and on monday, we meet the third.

on another note- i'm starting to freak out about my weight and how much i need to lose. i went to a nutritionist to lose some, but i fell off the wagon. :-(

it's late! bed is calling me!

so many colors to choose from

i'm so confused about colors again, agh! let's explore some now.

they call this raspberry. i like the centerpieces actually!

here's some a chocolate brown and apple green table setting...

they call this garnet. i think one of my problems is that i'm slightly color blind...like, when i was mugged by knife point in nyc, i was the only victim (out of 3) who said the mugger's jacket was orange...when, in fact, it was red.

these coral roses are pretty.

i really like the colors of this "fall" bouquet. what colors are these though?

and what color would you call this?

here's some green. i like the idea of using edible things on tables alongside flowers.

here's the classic and simple green and white.

or i could just go very classic with pure white.

white tables...



and look! here are those white pumpkins i like so much! and pumpkins are fall!

bed.