Joie De Vie Style: April 2008

sunset... an important time of day

Apr 30, 2008

today i spoke with our photog Michael about the timing of our wedding ceremony. after meeting with our planner at the venue she suggested we have our photog view the site given the guests and photos of our ceremony will be take almost due west.

he has a handy little tool i'd like to share with you... it was very helpful in planning the time for our e pics just before sunset this past november and it also has helped us determine our ceremony start time too!

Sun and Moon Data for One Day

here's what our wedding daylight looks like

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

i hope this can be a helpful tool for anyone else

making their outdoor wedding day plans work around sunset as well!

also, fyi, if you have a really good photographer like us, he or she can still shoot no matter if the sun happens to be setting as you exchange your vows. we will actually be having a 5:45 or 6pm ceremony, and hope to avoid blinding many of our guests.

ch ch changes....

Apr 24, 2008

i thought with the season change, my blog should get a new look for spring/summertime.

hope you like, it's bright, and i love the colors... and they would make such a fun wedding color pallet.

i'll be posting again very soon

Paper Source - Coming Soon to a City Near You!

Apr 20, 2008

i just picked up the most recent catalogue from Paper Source

and noticed that they are about to open a whole bunch of new locations... i know many brides have to order their products online. but it is a whole other expereince to be able to walk into their store... i think my face lights up like a kid in a candy shop when i see the colors and paper!

now some of you lucky people can feel that same feeling at these soon-to-be

Paper Source locations:

Dallas, TX - North Park Center - 7/08

Portland, OR - NW 23rd St - 8/08

Carlsbad, CA - The Forum - 9/08

Reston, VA - Town Center - 10/08

Thousand Oaks, CA - The Oaks - 11/08

Annapolis, MD - Town Center at Parole - 11/08

happy wedding paper planning!

Who's Heard of a Hand Ceremony?

i don't know exactly when i learned of the "hand ceremony" but as soon as i read it, i was sold!

it's basically an alternative to the ever popular sand or unity candle ceremonies, but is a little

different in it's purpose. the sand and unity candle ceremonies focus on two lives becoming one. while i love the significance and symbolism of those, i've grown accustomed to seeing them in every wedding i attend now a days.

photo source here

the hand ceremony can be inserted just before the exchange of rings since there is such a heavy emphasis placed on the hands

here's an example:

"Marriage is the clasping of hands, the blending of hearts, the union of two lives as one.

Marriage is caring as much about the welfare and happiness of you marriage partner as your own, it is not total absorption into each other; it is looking outward in the same direction together." source

and here's the actual ceremony wording from a member of brides.com

"bride if you would face groom and hold his hands, palms up, so you may see the gift that they are to you.

these are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and vibrant with love, that are holding your on your wedding day, as he promises to love you all the days of his life.

these are the hand that will work along side yours, as together you build you future, as you laugh and cry, as you share your innermost hopes and dreams.

these are the hands that look so large and strong, yet will be so gentle as he holds your child for the first time.

these are the hands that will work long hours for you and your new family.

these are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes: tears of sorrow and tears of joy.

these are the hands that will comfort you in illness,

and hold you when fear or grief overwhelm you.

these are the hands that will tenderly lift your chin and brush your cheek as they raise your face to look into his eyes; eyes that are filled completely with his

overwhelming love and desire for you.

groom if you would now hold your bride's hands, palms up, so that you may see the gift they are to you.

these are the hands of you best friend, smooth, young and carefree, and they are holding yours on your wedding day, as she promises to love you all the days of her life.

these are the hands that will hold each child in tender love,

soothing them through illness and hurt, supporting and encouraging them along the way,

and knowing when it is time to let them go.

these are the hands that will hold you tight as you struggle through difficult times.

these are the hands that will comfort you when you are sick,

or console you when you are grieving.

they are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years,

for a lifetime of happiness.

these are the hands that will give you support as she encourages you to chase down you dreams. together as a team, everything you hope for can be realized."

while i might change the wording around, the visual imagery of it as a whole is very cool.

what ceremony traditions have you scrapped to find other options to make your wedding uniquely yours?

ps. if anyone has alternative wording for this ceremony, i'd love to know what it is!

the venue hunt... P1

Apr 19, 2008

i'm taking a break from jewelry prepping (i have a party this week - eek), i was starting to go cross eyed looking at the wires and beads, not to mention i've lagged on blogging this week!

without further ado : the Wedding Venue Hunt

there's just something so typically Southern California about getting married at sunset with a view of the beach... ever since i was young, i've always dreamed that for my wedding. when we got engaged i knew we weren't working with a whole lot of time to secure a venue and that we couldn't be picky about the date either.

so, about as soon as we returned back from Jackson Hole (where we were engaged) i was on a mission to find the "perfect" wedding venue.

here was the search criteria:

had to have an ocean view
capacity over 150
an wedding ceremony location (preferably outside) as well as a reception venue onsite
have hotels nearby for our large number of out of town guests
also not be the typical "resort" wedding and reception (ie. St. Regis, the Ritz, the Montage)

when i was younger i always thought that a particular hillside venue that overlooked San Clemente beach would be the perfect location to get married.

after a little research i found out that is was called Casa Romantica (a bit of a cheezy name), and it is a neat historical South Orange County venue.

it also has changed hands since my youth, and isn't in nearly the same condition as it was when i was a teen. plus a lot of their policies weren't conducive to hosting our wedding there.

but here are a few pics of the no-longer-in-the-running potential venue:

outdoor ceremony location

inside which could be used for a lounge or cocktail reception (with a live pianist)

another view of the historic building's interior (from back in the day)

view of San Clemente State Beach and Pier - from Casa Romantic

the next venue i stumbled upon while online venue shopping was

the Ole Hanson Beach Club

it has a similar feel and ambiance to the Casa Romantica, which is very common architecture and style for the San Clemente area. the beach club also has quite a fun history to it, which makes it instantly more charming, you can read about its history on the website.

view of beach club facing the ocean

aerial view of the club and the public pool & park - the patio on the roof is where receptions can be held

park which can be used as a wedding lawn

a wedding on that same lawn, use your imagination and it could be pretty beautiful!

another view of the roof top patio for receptions, not a big fan of those chairs!

the problem with both of these venues, they couldn't handle the guest count we were planning for... also the more research we did, we'd have to bring in rental, valet service, independent caterers, etc... also, both are governed by the city of San Clemente which has and extremely early noise curfew/ordinance... no bueno!

both options were out

while i did find two very unique venues, they just didn't thrill me or jump out as the one!

so the search continued, while i heard the clock ticking because when shopping for a So Cal venue, you usually need 1-1.5 years to book a venue.... we got engaged just shy of a year before our August 2 wedding date! lots of work ahead of us....

a Bento Update

Apr 16, 2008

since i have really started using/ understanding the gift my dad gave me for Valentines day

i thought i would take a second and give y'all the goods about it.

my dad and i like, scratch that LOVE computers and software, yes we are computer nerds,

but my nerdiness(sp?) is your gain.

i've been using the bento program for a few things,

but wedding planning has been its primary purpose.

the program is fully customizeable, they organization of it breaks down to either the overall view of the "table" list (shown in 1st photo) and then the "details" pages which is the individual view of (in the case of my guest list) each guest.

here's a screen shot of our whole wedding guest list - viewing the table portion

in the left section you can organize the different address books, and sections within Bento. for example you can have one for you soft ball league, work associates, club members, business inventory, guest lists, and so on... i have 1 for wedding, all contacts, and 1 for inventory for my jewelry business.

in the center section it contains the quick view of all the fields (rank, name, address, contact)

the right most section is where the custom fields can be created, then dropped into the center workspace.

this next screen shot is of the Details section of the list

and yes, we do have a Jerry Garcia on our guest list, and no, he is of no relation! =)

here i have made a custom form for each of our guests, the form has a field for these items:

name
guest name
address
notes
date save the date was sent
check box that STD was sent
date the invite was sent
check box that Invite was sent
a pull down bar with Y or N RSVP
number of guests attending based on RSVP

here's a screen shot of the Details of my jewelry inventory

i was able to tailor the form to include:

design name
materials used/ amounts
category (necklace, earring....)
item number
stock quantity
cost breakdown
total cost to produce
resale price
and photo of item

the more i use this program, the more i realize it is a very powerful tool for storing/ organizing a lot of information in one easy place.

how have you tried to stay sane and organized with all the info and details thrown at you while planning your wedding?

Honeymooning

Apr 14, 2008

holy pictures batman... this is gonna be a long and picture filled post!

our tahitian honeymoon plans

around Christmas time FI and i decided we needed to pin down our honeymoon plans early to lock in the best deal we could get.

i've always dreamed of going to bora bora, FI, well he's traveled much more than i have. when we started brainstorming he's been to Hawaii.... multiple times, we've been to the Bahamas for spring break in college, he's been to Jamaica, he's been to Cancun... and the conversation continued like this about many tropical locales.

since i basically haven't been many places and he has, we thought it would be special/fun/adventurous to go somewhere neither of us have been, that way it would be new to us both!

- enter idea tahiti -

above is a pic of the tahitian islands - Tahiti (the big island) is where the "international" airport is located, so all flights must go in and out of there. next door to tahiti is Moorea, then all the way to the left side of the map is Bora Bora (insert choir of angels singing AHHHH!)

now the island of bora bora ain't cheap, but it is also the most desirable island to visit, according to everyone! we knew we wanted to stay there, but couldn't really swing a whole week's stay.

so we spoke with numerous tahiti specialist and found out that by staying a few nights on Moorea we could have a longer honeymoon with more island diversity, all for a better price.

so here's our basic travel agenda for the honeymoon for right now:

day after the wedding: fly from LAX to Tahiti

we get in too late to get a connecting flight to Moorea so we will be staying a night at the Intercontinental Tahiti Resort

(pictured below in next 2 photos)

now this is just my personal opinion but i think the travel industry has this game rigged: honeymooners flying in from the US usually fly in the Sunday after their wedding right? well, Air Tahiti Nui only has 2 flights that arrive on Sundays from LAX and NY, but they both get in so late that you have to stay a night on Tahiti before moving to your next island.

i swear it's a set up to help the tourism on tahiti!

ok enough of my conspiracy theories.... moving on...

so we will stay 1 night on tahiti and the next day we fly to moorea (7 min flight b/t it and tahiti). the next 4 nights we'll be at the moorea pearl resort.

(map of the pearl resort)

while we were trying to decide on our hotels we did A LOT of Tripadvisor research.

it helped with looking at REAL photos of the hotels, prior guests' reviews, and comments on the local area near the hotels. guests also rank the hotels,

so it turns our the Pearl is ranked #2 for moorea, not bad!

that site is a wealth of helpful info and was essential to planning our trip.

check it out for any trip you plan on taking, i know i always do!

(photo of Moorea)

Moorea is a greener and more mountainous island than it's rival Bora Bora, even though BB is the famous island, moorea is much larger and brings the best of both worlds to a tahitian vacation (advice an specialist gave me). the island offers both warm blue waters and gorgeous mountain vistas. unlike the other society islands, moorea has both white and black sand beaches.

after our time on moorea, we will start the 3rd and final leg of our honeymoon...

it's off to....

...bora bora

it's about 160 miles northwest of tahiti, and is supposed to be one of the most beautiful islands in the world! it's most stunning feature is its blue, jewel-toned lagoon and the twin peaks with just from it, creating changing, gorgeous views throughout the day.

we will stay the next 4 nights at the Intercontinental Resort & Thalasso Spa

pictured below in the rest of the photos

the intercontinental beach

seated guest check in - with fresh fruit juices and cool towels

IC overwater wedding chapel

the resort is one of the newest chains to build on bora bora, along with St. Regis and Four Season. it features ALL overwater bungalows, which tahiti is famous for... while doing my Tripadvisor research i kept noticing people commenting on becoming and "IC Ambassador" and you'll get a free night... WHAT!?!?!

when i hear deal, i turn into Miss Frugal and my ears perk up, my heart rate speeds up, and it's on...

i will find the best deal!

so here it is - this applies to any intercontinental - and you can sign up online

an Ambassador membership is $150 and here's what you get:

- a free weekend night voucher

- automatic room category upgrade

- priority check in

- luggage tags, so bags will be in room waiting for you

- late check out (4pm)

- complimentary airport transfers

- and additional resort credits upon arrival (bb usually give food/drink vouchers)

oh boy the free stay alone is worth the 150 bucks, when you are talking about the resorts on bora bora being waaayyyy more than that per night!

we might have my FI sign up for a seperate membership too... so our 1st night on Tahiti would be free, with his voucher, you just can't combine them at the same hotel.

however you can't use it if a travel agent is booking for you.

so here's a floorplan of our "home/condo" for bora bora

the bungalow is huge approx 900 sq ft.

and this is view from the diving deck off the back of the bungalow

bedroom view facing the lagoon

if you know me, you know i love bath time, but bathing with a view of the lagoon and a TV,

get outta here!

living room view facing the lagoon

pool/beach cabana for chillaxin' on the beach

after all this craziness that is called wedding planing is over, it will be so great to spend a good while recovering and relaxing with my best friend... and then HUSBAND!

i know since working with a wedding budget i have tried to be very budget conscious in honeymoon planning, especially since FMIL is being so generous in sending us on our honeymoon!

in planning your honeymoon have you become very frugal or have you said to heck with it,

go big or go home!

gocco printing 1st edition

Apr 10, 2008

alright so here's my step by step process for my 1st gocco project!

in order to make your image burn onto the screen

you need carbon in your print out it's the key ingredient

this means if you create your image/ pattern on the computer you either need to use a laser printer (has carbon) or print off from your ink jet (which i have) and run to office depot or kinkos and run off a xerox copy (which has carbon).
when i got back with my xerox copies i cut the images out and lined them up with the grid of the gocco drawing papers, to ensure that my images where square.

here are 3 pre-master screen layouts, i crammed a lot on each screen (i figure why waste a screen on 1 graphic, why not fill it all up?) the dark image all the way to the right is the one i plan on using for the rehearsal dinner invites.

here's the layering order

next you place the images you want to burn onto the pad w/ grid
then you slide the blue screen in next to the plexi glass window
between the blue screen and the image you want to burn - you slide in the mesh screen with it's blue side facing you & red arrow pointing down.

next you put what i'll call the flash bulb house in the top
push down and you'll see a bright flash
for good measure, i dunno if it helps/matters of not, but i hold the lid down for a few seconds. to me it seems like the extra heat time might help further the image transfer! i might be crazy though... =)
then go ahead and take off the flash bulb house and throw away the bulbs (remember they're toxic)
take the screen out along with the blue screen ( you're done using it now you can put it away) and pull back the plastic flap of the mesh screen and foam block around the image you want to use
apply your desired ink inside the foam block - the dark areas are where the ink will push through the screen
put the screen back in the gocco unit the same with blue side facing out and red arrow pointing down.
put your paper on the foam printing pad and stamp away!

here i was printing the envelope flaps and it got a little messy, remember if you don't have a paper covering the whole area that is currently inked it will make a mess kinda like you see above! oops

i was gocco'ing outside enjoying the sunny day!

i used the design template from the Weddingbee guest blogger

and then used my gold ink, which my camera did not do the ink any JUSTICE!

it has a beautiful shimmer to the ink which you can't see in the pic. the card stock is from paper source size A6 in Pool

i guess this is the start of my gocco obsession!

if anyone has gocco questions feel free to ask, i've become a quasi expert while i was procrastinating on using my unit!

what to wear when you get showered...

... with gifts that is.... yesterday my lingerie shower invite showed up, and oh boy the reality that i am actually getting married is starting to feel real now!

on the topic of showers... i've been so accustomed to helping and planning friend's showers and wedding related events, it's been a hard thing for me to sit back and relax.

if any of my BMs are reading this, i know i have a problem with control =), and y'all know how hard it is for me to not want to help! but it is a nice change to have others take the reins so i can really enjoy these next few months.

so, thank you girls in advance for all the amazing events i have in store, i'm looking forward to them and am very excited to see the fruits of your labor!

and i love you all very much!!!

here's the invite... since i've always been a huge country music fan (as i sit here blogging country tunes are crankin' outta my radio) i'm guessing they are going with a western theme!

we shall see...