Renaissance Wedding

Today is my 22nd Anniversary with the Mister.  Last year, here on the blog, I dedicated the whole month of November to our marriage with a five part series on lasting romance.  If you missed it you can check it out by either clicking the button on the sidebar or go here for part one, two, three, four, and five.

Several years ago, for our 10th anniversary in fact, we decided to renew our vows to one another and did so with a Renaissance themed wedding.  Renaissance means rebirth so we thought it only fitting since we were celebrating the rebirth of our commitment to one another.

Our invitations were copies of an illumination that I hand painted and then they were sealed with wax and hand delivered.

I designed and made my dress.  It had three layers, the outer layer was a dupioni silk with hand beading, the inner layer was a silk velvet, and the chemise was a rayon.  I spent hours working on this dress and was quite proud of how it turned out.

We incorporated many ancient traditions, such as a handfasting ceremony, moving the ring sequentially from the thumb to the middle finger, and being encompassed inside a circle made of our guests to symbolize our eternal love.

My mother and I made our cake to look like a castle.  We decorated the Hall in a castle medieval theme and my sisters and daughter served as our serving wenches.  My youngest sons served as our Knights. Our guests also came in costume so it was loads of fun to see what everyone put together.

So, in honor of our anniversary, I thought it would be fun to share some of the photos from the event with you. 

 

 

 

 

Artsy Birthday

We just celebrated my granddaughter's 4th birthday and I thought I would share some of the details with you.  She wanted to have an art party which made for a very colorful event.  You can see last years, Hungry Caterpillar party here.  

I made her a rainbow cake and cupcakes.  We set the cupcakes on paint palettes and placed sprinkles in the trays which allowed the children to decorate their own cupcakes. I also made "paintbrushes" by taking pretzel sticks and dipping them in chocolate.  To stick with the painting theme, we dropped by our local Lowes and picked up various paint chips and created holders for our napkins and eating utensils, then we used the left over paint chips for decorating the tables.

We got the acrylic paint and the pinata from Walmart as well as the tableware.

We picked the canvas' up at Michael's and I ordered the aprons, paint brushes, and palettes from Oriental Trading. We let the children take all of these home with them, as well as watercolor paint sets for thank you gifts.  

Everyone seemed to have a really good time, especially the birthday girl!

Pirates and Madagascar

My five grandsons all have birthdays within a couple weeks of each other which they just celebrated recently.  Both of my granddaughters birthdays are later in the year and within a month of each other and I have another grandson due to be born in a couple months, so his birthday will be in between the others.

Being that all of the boys birthdays are so close together, it is hard for this Grandma to find the time to bake that many cakes.  Luckily, this year I only needed to make cakes for two of them so I thought I would share those with you.

This first cake was for our grandson that just celebrated his 1st birthday with a Madagascar themed party.  So I made him a lion cake to represent Alex.  It was so simple to make and he loved it.

The second cake was for our grandson who was turning two.  He absolutely loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates so he had a pirate theme.  I thought about fashioning Jake out of fondant for his cake but then I decided that I would just purchase some of the character figurines instead because then he would be able to keep them to play with.

They were both pleased with their cakes and I enjoy making my babies happy - not that Grandma would ever spoil them. 

I am glad that our birthday season is over with for a little while.  Somehow, maybe, possibly, I think it could be the reason for my recent weight gain.  Apparently, I can overlook having to move my belt over a notch though, because I am looking forward to just baking for the fun of it, without worrying about how to decorate them.  Sometimes my greatest creations come out of my every day - "for no reason at all" - cakes.  Plus, I have an idea for a recipe for a chocolate cake that I want to try out.  If it works, I will share it with you ladies.

What about you, have you been baking lately?

What To Wear To A Wedding

Since June is the most popular wedding month, I thought many of you, like myself, may be attending such festivities and looking for something to wear.  Its always hard for me to decide what to wear, how formal will it be, should I avoid certain colors such as white, etc.  So I put together a nice selection of vintage or vintage inspired dresses that would be appropriate for a guest to wear.

Among these beauties are some of my favorites, some are true vintage and some are not, but have a vintage feel to them.  I hope you enjoy them and maybe they will inspire your wedding guest wardrobe choices.

This lovely 1950s dress is from Custard Heart Vintage and has a 34" bust 26" waist.

This is a gorgeous 1960s dress from Rococo Vintage.
You will have to be tiny to wear this dress as it has a 32" bust and 24" waist.

I love polka dots and this orange hued beauty captured my heart.
It is from 4 Birds Vintage and has  a 36" bust 26" waist.

I adore the pearls on the shoulders and top of this dress from Modcloth.

This lovely vintage inspired Emily and Fin dress can be found at Modcloth and comes in an array of sizes.

Are you attending a wedding in June?  Or perhaps later in the summer?  I hope these beauties help inspire your wedding attire.

Happy Halloween

Just a quick post to share my Halloween costume with you guys.  The pictures aren't the greatest but I think you will get the general idea.  This year my costume plans changed at the last minute when I was asked to participate in a group costume for work.  The group had decided on being the Addams family and I was asked to portray the part of Morticia.  However, with the recent occurrence of Hurricane Sandy along the East, and a family illness, we had a few parties absent today.  But, we had a good representation with our small group.  So here are some shots of my costume.

You really can't tell from the photos but I had the same netting flowing from my sleeves as I do on the bottom of the dress.  I just found a costume at the local Walmart and bought some of the gauzy web material from the Dollar Tree and added it to the bottom and sleeves of the dress.  It gave it a great effect but boy was it aggravating to try and walk in that.  I can't imagine how Carolyn Jones moved around in her Morticia costume with the hobble skirt.

Here is our group photo with Wednesday, Morticia, Gomez, Thing, and Cousin IT.

And finally, here are the folks I work with that decided to dress up.  The costumes ran the gamut from Puritan to Penguin.  You can just barely see her but, behind the penguin is Tippi Hedren with a bird on her shoulder.

The cute doggy is in training to be an assistance pet through the Companion Pets for Independence so she is in our office building most every day.

We had a fun time with a potluck lunch and entertainment by Elvis himself. Thank you, thank you very much!

How are you celebrating today?