10th wedding anniversary trip!

8.09.2021

10th wedding anniversary trip!

On Friday we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Wow, right! I've been blogging for almost 12 years and our wedding was a huge project so I documented it all way back then (see all posts about it here), and I don't post about every anniversary but thought 10 years deserved a post. Plus, we did something really special!

For a long time I thought we'd do something big, like a week in Hawaii or new engagement ring set, but we haven't had the capacity to do any extra things very well lately (see also: vegetable garden needing to be harvested, not vacuuming frequently enough, etc.) and it crept up on us. Plus with two little kids and Jason only 6 months into working for real, now is not a great time for a trip (COVID, too). But I thought it would be really special and sentimental to go back to our wedding venue and maybe even stay there overnight, without the kids. 

I haven't spent a night away from at least one kid since April 2018 when Otto was born! It is a big deal to be able to go to sleep without wondering if you'll be woken up in the middle of the night or early morning. Plus, just all those hours of independence... wow!

We headed out after the kids' naps Friday and walked around Edgefield, had dinner, went to the soaking pools, had a big breakfast, sat on the porch, took a few pumping breaks of course (they brought us the tiniest minifridge for the room), and visited some memorable spots from our wedding photos. So I'll mix in a few of those with the current ones (you'll be able to tell the difference!). Wedding photos are by Studio 623 Photography.

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Belated anniversary! Plus some seriously proud moments for DIYing

10.03.2014

Belated anniversary! Plus some seriously proud moments for DIYing

This post makes me so happy! I love 1) beautiful photos, 2) enjoying things I've made, and 3) love. I love love. My dear husband. **List of things not in order and not all-inclusive.

A few weeks ago, we were so lucky to have the chance to do an anniversary shoot with our wedding photographer at our wedding venue, McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon. I am so happy to have these amazing photos documenting this special time celebrating 3 years of marriage, each one better than the last! We had a totally DIY wedding, and I got super lucky finding Becky (Studio 623 Photography) to capture it and understand my vision. So it was perfect that I got to show off some other DIYs - dresses I've made - and revisit our special location once more. And this time, way less stress of course since not planning a wedding, but also, I had my makeup done by Brooke Morse. Such a treat to spend time sitting comfortably while someone with far more capable hands does my hair and makeup. I connected with Brooke through some mysterious Portland Bloggers connection (we're not quite sure how but we know some of the same people) and she was just great to work with!

So this was a very positive shoot experience, and I will treasure these photos forever. (Think it's time to update the frames around the house, and...maybe Christmas cards?!) I really can't speak highly enough of Becky, we love her so much! Even my husband who is quite reluctant to do photo shoots has fun working with her, and has been asking when we get to see the photos. She does a TON of weddings and babies, so if you're having either of those and live in Oregon, check her out. She's absolutely the sweetest. (Website/Facebook.)

So the photos. I don't know if there's a convention for 3-year anniversary photos, but it felt like it had been too long since we visited our venue, so it was a great location!

I got married in a pale grey/warm light pink/ivory dress, so I felt quite bridal in the pale pink lace shift dress I made earlier this year.

It was really magical to visit the same beautiful enclosed patio where we walked down the "aisle," but this time with no people besides us there.

We even sat on the porch of the house where we got ready, and took the carrying-through-the-hearth shot.

And, a serious favorite photo spot, we revisited the amazing sunset scene of this pocket of wild grasses on the edge of the campus. We got some awesome photos there back on our wedding day, while the guests were dancing... it's beautiful, but it's hard to walk through! Molehills and things.

And, check this out. One of our other favorite photo spots was at the edge of the small vineyard they have there. We walked up and down the rows on our wedding day and got some photos I love, and we did it again this time - but in much more comfortable clothes!

I seriously love these photos. Infusing some of our current, more everyday personality into the beautiful wedding photo locations with some playful poses! (Recognize my new fave bright blue halter dress?)

I seriously love them. Think I need to order some prints to frame STAT. I love the lifting-kissing vineyard ones!!

And what a cool way to show off DIYs, amiright? Two dresses I made and am proud of, looking their best in these great photos!

Thanks again to Becky and Brooke for making our anniversary shoot so great!

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Two whole years since...

8.06.2013

Two whole years since...

Two years ago today, something amazing happened....

Wedding photos coming up!

We had a "first look"...

We read the vows we had written...

We were surrounded by our closest friends and family from all over the country...

We had a "first dance"...

Photos by Studio 623 Photography

And it was pretty much perfect.

Then a little later we went on a honeymoon...

And now it's been TWO YEARS of married life!

I blogged a lot about our DIY wedding preparations--I made my wedding dress, my bridesmaids' dresses, my birdcage veil, the vintage fabric bunting (and here), that chalkboard you see up there, the boutonnieres, my silk shoe clips, and a bunch of other stuff. Our photographer was my now good friend Becky of Studio 623 Photography, and she got my wedding posted onto Ruffled for all the world to see. I kept my sanity while hand sewing oodles of silk flowers for my dress and throwing together floral arrangements and scheduling a day with so much to do, and am proud of my hard work and so grateful for my friends and family and husband who helped create such a memorable day for us.

But now it's been two years. Since then we've bought a house, both gotten new jobs, I've written a book, we've gone on trips together, we've gotten healthier and started eating meat, and he's started an awesome blog about it... a lot has happened! And all the way, I've had my best friend by my side and holding my hand!

I could say a million nice things about my husband. But today I mostly want to say how grateful I am for my partner, our home, our lives.

And here we are today.

Happy anniversary, Jason!

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One year ago today...

8.06.2012

One year ago today...

Today is an exciting day! One year ago on August 6th I got married--hard to believe it's been a year in some ways, but in other ways that wedding planning phase of my life feels so long ago! It's been such a relief to let go of the stress of wedding planning, although recently I've just replaced it with the stress of house-buying. It's all okay; I work well under pressure. ;) I like to keep busy.

Anyway, not the point. Just had to call out today as an important day in my life history--one year of wedded bliss! And wanted to thank you all for your support last summer as I threw wedding questions at you all the time. I loved seeing your DIY wedding projects and it felt so good to hear your wedding stories and get your feedback on decor, attire, and planning questions. =) Thank you all! You rock!

And it worked out--here we are one year later. We beat Kim Kardashian and a lot of other people. ;) There are wedding pictures and DIYs here if you wanna see (and on Ruffled here), but thought I'd share a few of the funny ones with you today!

Photos by my photographer and now close friend Becky of Studio 623 Photography. I got so lucky with her!

Happy anniversary, us!!

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My wedding dress on Perfect Bound =)

12.01.2011

My wedding dress on Perfect Bound =)

More exciting news about our wedding!!

When our beautiful wedding photos (by the oh-so-talented Becky of Studio 623 Photography) were featured on Ruffled recently, I was also asked to share the story of my wedding dress on Perfect Bound!

Check out the feature here... I'm so flattered to be asked to share the story of my homemade creation... THE dress for me!

The Perfect Bound story also talks about the bridesmaid dresses I made.

And, the dress again.

Ahhhh, weddings, how I love them!  Anyone out there still engaged?  Seems like lots of people have gotten married recently, but I wonder if there are still brides-to-be planning and reading the blogs.  I'll never stop loving wedding blogs!

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Our wedding on Ruffled

11.16.2011

Our wedding on Ruffled

Super exciting news today--our wedding (remember how I wouldn't shut up about our wedding preparations like, all summer, and then you never saw all the pictures when it was over?  Sorry....) was featured on Ruffled yesterday!

So you can see all the lovely pics there, although I really should post a bunch of my faves here, too, shouldn't I?  I'm so grateful for my wonderful photographer Becky of Studio 623 Photography for making my vision turn out so beautiful for us to remember for years to come, and I'm so excited to be featured on one of my absolute fave wedding inspiration blogs!!  I LOVE Ruffled.  So much great vintage and DIY inspiration; I was pinning and saving pics from there a ton when I was planning our wedding.

So check out the wedding post here with all my babbling and the gallery with all the 100+ pics here.  And seriously, if you live in the Portland area and are getting married any time soon, check out our photographer. You're reading this blog, so I imagine we have similar tastes in some things, and let me say I am SO happy with what she did with our wedding, and she was so wonderful to work with, I can absolutely recommend her to you!

P.S. In the comments--people are saying nice things about my dress!  If you want to see the whole story of how I made it, you can follow along here (read from the bottom to the top if you want!).

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Bachelorette party, asymmetrical ruffle dress tutorial! Oooh!

10.05.2011

Bachelorette party, asymmetrical ruffle dress tutorial! Oooh!

I'm really happy to have Ruffle Fabric as a sponsor here on the blog, and I'm so excited to get to share a tutorial with some of their lovely stuff!

You'll remember I also made a super cute little ruffle-skirt dress for my niece who was in our wedding.  The already-ruffled skirt made it so quick and easy, and cute!

I also wanted something fabulous to wear to my bachelorette night.  When I saw some of the lovely colors the ruffled goodies come in, I was reminded of these dresses...

ModCloth...

How fabulous, right?!?!  There are a few others in the more wedding-ey realm, too, that I love...

J.Crew

BHLDN

Um, yeah.  I'm pretty sure if I had seen that (bottom) wedding dress and heard of Ruffle Fabric before I made mine I would have seriously considered just making a simple top and attaching it to a long ruffle skirt.  So intensely cool.

And once you start looking, you see gorgous ruffle-skirted wedding dresses everywhere...

Ivy & Aster

And while we're at it...

Oscar de la Renta, of course...

But I digress.  I had already made my wedding dress, but I wanted something fabulous, frilly, and girly to wear for my bachelorette dinner and party!  I got to work with the beautiful pale, warm pink ruffle fabric and experimented with the design to put together something really cool!

I was particularly inspired by a lot of the asymmetrical skirts on those ModCloth dresses.  So I figured out how to drape the skirt to make that swoop-ey overlap.

Here's a tutorial!

• I used ruffle fabric as well as bodice fabrics that went pretty well in color.  You could do this without the lace, but I'll show you what I did anyway.  I used a strapless dress pattern I made up based on a few others... not important.  Use whatever bodice pattern you want.

• I cut out the bodice of the under layer (pale pink twill), then cut out the lace with the same shape but with some extra to stick up off the top.  With the seam allowances, I only needed an extra half inch at the most of the lace.

• I had to overlap the bodice pieces 1" to allow for the 1/2" vertical seam allowance, so the lace would be the right size.

• This dress zips up the back--if you change where yours zips, take note at that part of the tutorial.  
• Once the bodice was cut out, I tackled the skirt.  Basically, measure yourself and decide what your skirt length should be.  I wanted the skirt to come down to just above my knees.  Cut out one panel (one width of the fabric), cutting halfway between the rows of ruffles.

• Now, to make half of a second panel to drape with (the skirt will end up being 1.5 panels around), cut another piece the same length to about the middle of the fabric.
• Now, cutting down the center of your folded fabric, along where the fold would be, cut vertically straight down to your cut edge.

• Back to the full panel, you'll cut off one corner so you can round off what becomes the top edge, which will be gathered.

• To round it off even more I cut off this tiny piece!

• Sew your side seams like you would on any skirt--no, that's not true... Sew two of your side seams, leaving the half piece open on whichever side you want to cross over it.  The half-width panel will hang flat in the front, and one side of the full-width panel will cross over it.

• Now gather your curved edge of the wide panel.

• Now you have a long curved, gathered piece.  Mark the sides so you know where they are.

• Arrange the gathers mostly concentrated at the point where the long edge touches the waist seam.  Pin lots!

• Now create a center back placket for your zipper.  An invisible zipper is best with this fabric, I think!

• Now, with all those pins still in place, gather all the way around the skirt, starting at the center back.

• Now you can attach your skirt to your bodice!  Watch where the center front swoopy part sits.

• Flip and give it a little pressing so it stays flat at the waist, not too bulky.
• Almost done--I chose to gather the bottom few inches of the underskirt (the narrow piece) so it didn't risk hanging down below the swooped up overlap.  I just did a gathering stitch with strong thread and tied off the ends.

And here it is!

And here I am in all my bachelorette glory!

For the bachelorette party, a bunch of us including my mom and aunts who were in town went to a nice place for dinner--they all wore black and I stood out in my pastel!

Then my bridesmaids that were in town and I went to a few bars around the area.

I seriously enjoyed wearing the tiara.  Love the Dollar Tree accessories and toys we got to play with as we bar-hopped!

It was sooooo much fun!  And I felt pretty fabulous all night, being the only one in a light pink fluffy thing, tiara, and super tall nude stiletto peeptoe slingbacks.  ;)  I hope everyone gets the chance to do something as fun and special sometime in their lives!

Whether you're celebrating your upcoming wedding or not, though, you can certainly have fun with that awesome ruffle fabric--super easy way to get a dramatic and awesome look!

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