The Art of Losing is Hard to Master

Like many brides before me, at the beginning of our engagement (a whole 15 months ago) I vowed to lose weight and get in better shape.

Don't get me wrong - I consider myself to be fairly thin, and understand that I am not overweight for my height and body type. However, I had gained weight in the years since college, and wanted to look more lean and toned. Not only that, but I wanted to feel better. We're talking about my wedding day, after all! I wanted to look as good as I possibly could, and be healthier to boot.

So, alongside Mr. CA, I started eating even better than we had been previously, and exercising.

The real kick in the butt was when I went to try on wedding dresses. I was shocked that the dresses I tried on had such tiny sizes. To give you an idea: I generally wear a size 4 in dresses. The dress I ended up purchasing was a size 10. A TEN.  What is the deal with that?? How is that possible? I honestly do not understand how their sizing is so different from regular clothing. Even though I knew the sizing was irregular, it made me really self-conscious and worried about my weight.

Nevertheless, I waxed and waned in my exercising over the next few months - going through spurts of sustained work-outs, then lapsing into indolence. I have a very long commute each way to work, and it is really hard to squeeze in time to work out. I'm out the door by 6:20am, and don't get back until around 7pm, when all I want to do is make dinner, eat, then go to bed. Working out was, unfortunately, not one of my main priorities.

Ultimately, I have maintained essentially the same weight over the last year. At this point, with the wedding looming in just a few short weeks, I am at peace with that. I will look like me on my wedding day. No, I won't look perfect. But I will look perfect to Mr. CA, and that is what matters.

Did you try to lose weight for your wedding? How successful were you? Were you also shocked at wedding dress sizes?

Why We Serve

As we are now in the home stretch, it is time to talk about something that Mr. CA and I have been thinking a lot about lately. What might that be? Well, it's the backbone behind this whole wedding shebang - our nuptial mass. Yep, our wedding ceremony, where Mr. CA and I will pledge to stand by each other for the rest of our lives, in front of God, our family and our friends. That's deep stuff right there, and sometimes it gets a bit lost in all of the floral inspiration, the ooh-ing and aah-ing over invitations, and the meal choices.

Now, none of this ceremony stuff is a secret, per se, but, well, wouldn't you guests of the CA wedding prefer not to know about every single little thing beforehand? I didn't think so. Let's keep some of the mystery, shall we? Okay, then...

Whew, now that they're gone... Let's talk Wedding Mass!

Give us this day, our daily bread. Photographer: Rudolf Eickemeyer. Library of Congress.

A key component of our Catholic faith is the service of others, and the giving of our resources to help those in need - financially, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually. Growing up, volunteering my time to serve others was emphasized by my parents, and I am so glad that they have instilled in me a desire to serve. Mr. CA and I continue this tradition through giving of our time, energy, and financial resources to those who need it.

What better way to demonstrate this at our wedding than to have our first act as wife and husband be to distribute the Eucharist during holy Communion?

The Holy Eucharist. Published by N. Currier, 1848. Library of Congress.

I was actually very surprised when our officiant brought this up in a recent Skype session with him (yes, he is super awesome and uses Skype). I had never heard of the couple doing this at a wedding before! As soon as he said it, though, it just made so much sense.

Rev. J explained that, in distributing the consecrated bread, we "demonstrate, with one of (our) first actions as husband and wife, (our) desire to serve the community side by side."

I fell in love with the idea immediately, and demanded that we do this during our ceremony. I was slightly concerned, as Mr. CA and I aren't Eucharistic Ministers, but Rev. J assured us that this is fine, and that he is able to make us 'extraordinary' Eucharistic Ministers for the day. Excellent!



During Communion, all of our guests will be invited forward as a sign of the role each one of our guests is playing in our ceremony. Those who are not receiving the Eucharist will also come forward to receive a blessing, placing their hands over their hearts.

In this way, Mr. CA and I will show our unity with our family and friends, and each other, as we serve them as husband and wife.

I cannot wait to do this. What a meaningful thing to work into our ceremony! I am so glad that Rev. J suggested it.

Are you and your future spouse planning on distributing the Eucharist during your nuptial mass? Have you been to a wedding where the couple did this?

Hair Up, Glasses Off: Remix

A few weekends ago, we trekked out to California for my sister's college graduation. Why is this relevant to weddings? Well, luckily enough, Mr. CA's Auntie also lives in the same town, so we were able to get together with her. Bonus? She is also my wedding hair and makeup artiste extraordinaire!

So, of course, we simply had to do a trial while I was down there, right? I mean, come on, who doesn't love getting themselves done up all nice and pretty like? No one.

Armed with my hair-spiration, we set off. Unfortunately, due to terrible weather across the country, flights were delayed out of Newark, and we missed our connection in Phoenix. Which meant we landed in Phoenix around 1am. Meaning we had to sleep in the Phoenix airport to catch our super-early-morning flight. I was not pleased. Airport-sleeping does not make for a beautiful, fresh-faced Miss Candy A. Yep, I looked pretty haggard. Poor Auntie, she wasn't going to have much to work with.

But, we pressed on, and once we landed, we met up with Auntie and Uncle CA for lunch, then the appointment. I dragged my mom along and pressed her into service as our photographer for the day. Mr. CA and Uncle CA also ended up joining us, so it was just a big ol' Candy Apple party!

Get ready - lots of pics coming your way!

Me, fresh off the Phoenix airport floor with less than an hour's sleep. Dehydrated. Tired. Sexy. Wait, which of those doesn't belong?

Showing Auntie the joys of Pinterest with my saucy curlers in.

I actually really liked the curlers, and vowed to purchase some hot rollers of my own. This has yet to happen. Oh well.

Curls! Love. Seriously, I have always wanted beautiful, lucious curls. Stupid straight hair.

I look like a cheerleader here. Mr. CA arrived around this time, and was kind of like, oooh, you look.... nice? Heh, poor guy. I informed him that I wouldn't look like this the day of our wedding, and he was quite relieved.

And voila! Hair is all done. I told Auntie that I wanted a loose, low updo. I didn't want it to look super sleek, and I think it turned out really well. Exactly as I was envisioning it! Minus my haggard appearance, and drooping eyes.

The side, with Mr. CA and Uncle CA in the background. They're troopers.

I told you - Mom CA = photog. She took her job seriously.

And the back! Simple. Elegant. Natural, and yet classy enough for the big day. Perfect!

Annnd, a close-up of me with hair done, no makeup. Again - this is after a night in the luxurious Phoenix airport. Please excuse the hideousness.

Working her magic... I don't typically wear a ton of makeup, so my instructions to Auntie were "natural-looking, but still elegant." I am a woman of words, let me tell you.

Deer in the headlights!

All done! Oh man, I look so tired here. But happy! And made-up! Yay!

Vogue

I love how it turned out! YAY! Just as I was imagining, but better.

One of Auntie's colleagues forced me to go outside and have a photoshoot. They like getting pictures from all angles, in different light, so that they know how the look will photograph.

Super close up. You're welcome.

You can't really tell in these pictures, but once I got in the car, I realized that the air-brush foundation had gotten all over my pearl earrings! Ha. It wiped off super easily, but I made a mental note to put on my jewelry after makeup on the wedding day.

A shot about an hour or so afterwards, with my lovely Sister/ MOH. Note the hair tendril creeping out.

After an afternoon consisting of a cocktail reception, mass, and another cocktail reception (it was a busy trip, let me tell you). Hair is pretty loose at this point, and that tendril/ curl has escaped the clutches of the bobbypins.

All things considered (no sleep the night before, having been on planes and in an airport for the better part of the 24 hours prior, etc.), I think the trial went really well! I am so happy with the look we're going for - natural, yet still elegant enough for a wedding. I looked way better than I thought I could!

Auntie is, of course, a hair and makeup goddess. I loved getting my hair and face done, and she was so diligent in writing down everything she used during the trial. Seriously, she had a coloring-book style face thingy on which the stylists apply the actual makeup, to color in and show what product/ color went where. She also had a massive list in a notebook where she wrote everything down - products, steps, etc. This is crucial, people! You don't want your stylist forgetting something on the big day. Auntie is so prepared.

Some notes from the trial: we did determine that we wanted to use slightly less air-brushed foundation around my nose. Auntie also assured me that my hair would be super-hairsprayed, with lots more bobbypins, the day of, so that it wouldn't slip out. Don't want that puppy falling down during the ceremony! Thankfully, I will have my stylist on-hand to fix my hair if necessary. Whew.

I am incredibly lucky that she is helping me on my wedding day! It was so much fun being able to spend some girlie time with her, too.

Did your hair and/or make-up trial come out better than expected? Do you have an amazing friend or relative helping out? Do you have an awesome Mom Photographer like I do, to document these fun events?? (Thanks, Mom!)

Moo Cow. I Mean, Card. Yeah. Moo Card.

Like many Bees before me, I am a Moo Card bride. You know, those cute little mini cards that you can customize? Yeah, they're pretty neat.

Surprisingly, I actually did not find out about Moo cards through Weddingbee. Shocking, I know. Our photographers included a box of Moo cards with our e-session DVD - they had a selection of our e-pictures on one side of the card, and our future wedding gallery information on the other. They suggested that we set them out somewhere on our wedding day, so that our guests knew how to access the gallery after the event. Excellent! I fell in love with Moo's packaging, and the teensy little cards. Right then and there, I knew I wanted to somehow work additional Moo cards into our stationary suite. I had a pretty firm idea on how I would use them, and it was fun to trawl through WB and see how various other Bees have used them in the past. I was officially hooked on Moo.

So, I bit the bullet and designed some Moo cards! Which means we will not only have the Moo cards to set out on the wedding day itself (from our photogs), but I was also able to incorporate them into our invitations.

Yes, it is exciting. I'm telling you - their packaging kicks butt.
 

You're MY new best friend too, Moo card!!!

I am really in love with the "Mine" and "Theirs" folder. Mainly because they're just teensy little folders in a teensy little box.

Annnnd..... ta-da!! Our Moo cards in action!

Yep, we incorporated our silhouettes into the Moo cards. Love.

Otherwise, we just had "Mr. & Mrs." and the date on the back of the card, along with our website, so that guests can find further information about the day. Pretty simple and straightforward!

Here they are all lined up...

Now, just one thing to note. I ended up with WAY too many Moo cards. We were sending out just under 100 invites, and I wanted to be safe and order a few extra cards, just in case. I don't know, I was worried about messing up or something. I'm paranoid like that. Anyway, the cards come in packs of 100. So, I ordered 200.

Yeah, I basically used 2 from that second pack, and now have about 98 extra Moo cards sitting around. Oops? I don't really care - I'll use them the day of the wedding, but having to order somewhat in bulk is something to keep in mind. To be honest, I did mess up punching holes in a few of them (it was the punch's fault! I promise!), so it was nice having the security of the extra cards.

So, that's that! I love how they turned out, and I can't wait to show you how I used them on our invites.

Are/ were you a Moo card bride? Were you as enamored with the packaging as I am?

You + Me = 2 Silhouettes in a Pear Tree

Ideas in-hand, I sat down for a conversation with Mr. CA regarding my idea for using silhouettes on our invitations. Nervous. Hopeful. Ready for a Wild West style showdown in case he didn't like the idea. Miraculously, I got the green light from him to proceed with the concept. Yes!! Admittedly, we were a bit worried that plastering silhouettes of ourselves all over our wedding stationary might seem slightly vain, but in the end we decided that we wanted our wedding to be as personal as possible, and the silhouettes would give them that little special personalization that I wanted. Plus, they just look cool.

After receiving a tip towards BlueClara on Etsy (I love the Hive!), I went and checked out her Etsy store. It was love at first sight! Her silhouettes are awesome - very clean and well-done. I love that she gives you different options: full body or just heads, digital or print. What a great steer!

I immediately placed an order with the shop about doing our silhouettes, and then attempted to take the side profile pictures that were required for them to do our silhouettes. Um, why was this so difficult?? Someone please explain.

Having looked at quite a few silhouettes on various invitations, I had a very clear vision of how I wanted the silhouettes to look. For some reason, though, we just couldn't get the camera angle right! Every shot turned out super weird, and either 1. made my chin look both nonexistant and with double-chins at the same time (how is that possible??), 2. made my hair look/ whispy/ flat/ weird, or 3. the angle just wasn't right for a silhouette.

We finally got one of each of us that we were semi-okay with. And by semi-okay, I mean it didn't make me look like I have 12 chins and an over-bite.

So we finally had our shots. They looked pretty shabby (at least mine did. Mr. CA is way too photogenic), and weren't quite what I was expecting or wanting. Dang it - why did I decide to do this again, and why had I already paid for the listing on Etsy? I hoped beyond hope that our silhouettes might turn out semi-decent. Maybe. I wasn't expecting much, though.

I sent the pictures off to Jamie (with the requests "please smooth my ponytail, and that tuft of hair on Mr. CA's head that's sticking up." I am incredibly eloquent and clear, let me tell you), and she told me that she had a few jobs ahead of me, and would get proofs to us in a few days. Guys, let me tell you - this was one part of the wedding process that could not have been easier or smoother or faster. We sent her the profile pictures on the same Saturday we placed the order, and she got the silhouettes to me on Sunday. Um, yes. Sunday as in the next day. Speedy speedy!

I would like to say that Jamie is absolutely amazing. I could not sing her praises enough (and no, she did not pay me to write this. I just love her and her work). She was super fast, and guess what? Super good at what she does. Honestly, she worked magic with the crappy profile shots I sent her. I was absolutely blown away by our silhouettes, and couldn't stop staring at them for a month. Oh, who am I kidding - I still stare at them.

Jamie sent the files as PDFs - two solo shots, and one with the two of us facing each other. I of course was a big, demanding jerk and asked her for the files as high-res JPegs, and she happily sent those along as well. Have I mentioned how much I love her?

{BlueClara, on Etsy}

Yes. They are amazing. I am in love with them. If that is vain, then call me vain. I don't care. They rock. Jamie made us look super-awesome and elegant in our silhouettes, and I was incredibly excited to work them into our invitations.

I think one of the best parts about using silhouettes is that they look really neat, but they are also you. They capture you and your SO (or whoever) at that moment in time, in a classy, timeless way. I think they work really well when integrated into wedding themes and decor, but you could also do something like this for a birthday, anniversary, pictures of your children, etc. Endless possibilities, really! Basically, silhouettes rock. The end.

Once I had the silhouettes, I had no excuse to put off the invites any longer!

Did you work silhouettes into your wedding invitations? Did you attempt to do them yourself, or did you have someone else take care of them? Did you work with the amazing BlueClara as well? (If not, you should. Seriously.)

Inspiring the Invitations, Part II

I mentioned in my last post that I went through a brief invitation hiatus after Mr. CA and I made the decision that Rifle Paper Co.'s invitations were out of the running. However, I did bounce back eventually - mainly out of necessity, as we were getting closer and closer to the wedding, and I had no idea what to do about invitations! So, I moved on, and found lots and lots of invitation inspiration.

Want to take a peek? My first light-bulb "aha!!" moment came through a site that I visit every day. Etsy. Curious?

{Etsy}

Yep, that's right. It's the default avatar for Etsy accounts. It makes me smile every time I log in - I haven't had the heart to change it to an actual picture of me. I actually filed this inspiration away in my mind long before our wedding invitations came up - I knew that I loved silhouettes, and the whole old-world feel that I got from them. However, I was not sure exactly how they could fit into our wedding until I ran across this beautiful image:

{Sarah Rhodes Photography, from the wedding of our very own Hive Hostess, the lovely Jackie-O}

Another "aha!!" Beautiful, fun silhouettes offered the personalized aspect that I so loved, but they were a bit more formal and elegant than the custom, folksy drawings that I had been coveting. So I dug some more into the internets and found oodles of inspiration.

{Posh-Paperie}

{Mr. Boddington's Studio}

{Both above images: Invitations by Quill and Fox, Photo by Rebekah Johnson Photography, via Style Me Pretty Gallery}

{Amy Atlas Events}

{Sway Space}

{Twin Ravens Press}

{Hum Creative}

{Anticipate Invitations}

{Laura Macchia}

I absolutely loved the silhouttes. They were beautiful, and old-fashioned looking - very Victorian-esque, which, I suppose, is a vibe that I am going for with our wedding. (I mean, they did lots of silhouettes, didn't they? Cameos and such? Maybe?) They just scream "classy elegant" to me. But, while they give that more vintage, classic, old-timey feel, they also allow for the option of incorporating more modern typefaces and design elements, to give it that little punch of fun. Win win, I say!

The only problems were - how the heck would I go about getting some sort of custom-silhouette work done? And would we be able to afford something along these lines? And, lastly - would Mr. CA approve?

Anyone else find themselves pulled toward the custom portrait or silhouette designs?

Inspiring the Invitations, Part I

As I may have mentioned in the past, I love paper products. Fonts, paper weight, colors, design - I love it all. It's probably a good thing that I ended up in publishing, where I get to immerse myself in beautiful lovely books every day. End papers! Cover designs! Love.

{Calligraphy by Love, Jenna; Invites by Swiss Cottage Designs}

So, I knew that the invitations would be a high point for our wedding. They set the tone, the colors, the feel of the day, with their scrumptious typefaces and delicious paper textures. I couldn't wait to jump in and get my hands dirty!

{Karin Soukup}

This little booklet is quite possibly the most exquisite invitation I have ever seen. Ever. So incredibly gorgeous - it really is a work of art. And I love the old-timey feel of the botanical images.

However, as much as I love paper products, I am not exactly a DIM type of gal. I don't even own Photoshop, for pete's sake! I work in Editorial, not Production, and although I like to pretend I have a good eye towards design, I have never actually taken any sort of design classes. So. I decided right off the bat that I wouldn't let something as big as our wedding invitations ride on my shoddy-at-best design skills.

I did, however, have loads of fun doing "research" for our invitations. Don't you love how you can spend hours trawling through wedding blogs, wasting oodles of time staring at pictures of bouquets and invitations and table numbers, and call it research? Appreciate this time in your life, guys and gals.

{The Indigo Bunting}

Anyway, as I was doing my "research," my inspiration started to coalesce into a fairly firm idea of what I wanted for our invites.

Let me just say right off the bat that I really, really wanted to have our invites done by the lovely and talented Anna Bond, at Rifle Paper Co. She is amazing, and her work is just gorgeous. It was exactly the type of style and feel that we were going for with our wedding. I even bought a custom portrait of Mr. CA and me through Rifle to include at our wedding. However, the invites were just too far out of our price range - even the more standard (non-customized) lines. We had a lot of back and forth about various options (they are SO great about trying to work within your budget, and with customizing things), but I ultimately decided that, although I wanted amazing invitations, I simply could not justify the cost for something that people will just toss. I mean, I know my mom and maybe one or two other guests will keep theirs, but still. Most will toss them in the recycling. Let's be honest here, people.

{Rifle Paper Co.}

And, sadly enough, Mr. CA was also not a huge fan of the big florals in their designs (which I am obsessed with. He's insane). So, that was a no-go.

I did, however, take away from their lovely designs a love for personalized portraits, cute animals, sleek designs, and beautiful typefaces. Their hand-lettering is just divine - if they put it on a font website for a million dollars, I might consider purchasing. Seriously. It's that pretty.  

{Rifle Paper Co.}

Mr. CA also thought that the Rifle invitations looked a bit less formal than he wanted for our invites. Although I loved their designs, I did agree with him - they have certainly nailed the whimsical, folksy designs. I do love them, but yes, I agreed that we needed something a bit more classic, and slightly more formal. Just slightly.

So, I moved on. Since I had my heart set on the Rifle invitations for so long, I sort of put invites out of my mind for a while. Let's call it a brief mourning period.

Did you fall in love with invitation designs, or anything else wedding-related for that matter, only to determine that it was out of your budget? Are you still at peace with that decision, as I am?

What sorts of inspiration drove your invitations? Did you DIY, or throw up your hands and just say no?