Glamnuptials: Prep time

When I woke up, the first thing I did was go immediately on the computer to blog for weddingbee. Yes yes, who blogs on their wedding day... apparently me. With all the excitement of the last preparations I had forgotten to write my last post as a Miss and it was a must on my to-do list. Then it was weather check time. It rained all week and Saturday seemed to be no exception to the rule, but for some miraculous reason it did not rain one bit. I had the most perfect day ever!

Our day schedule was quite tight, but do-able. First stop, the hairdresser. It was extremely fun being at the hairdresser with my sisters (BM) and my cousin (MOH) and everyone was looking great. One thing though, I forgot my veil at home so my awesome cousin filled her duties as MOH. She went back to my place to grab my veil. How awesome is she.

My wedding look - With my veil - thanks MOH!

Once I got back home, my good friend was there ready to put my makeup on - fake lashes and all. Basically the same look as my first trial but in the pink tones. I let her do her magic... and I loved how I looked. I felt like a million dollars. I'm a makeup freak and could of done it myself, but instead in order to de-stress, I decided to do my sister's makeup.

Yup yup, that's me in the sexiest position ever!

Once everyone was ready, it was my turn. The photographer finally arrived and the videographer was there too... it felt all so surreal but exciting at the same time.

My dress almost didn't fit through the door... lol

Holding my boobies in place - lol (the ladies were free all day)



Putting on the my jewelry - with the help of my sister and my mommy

Look at the my prince charming putting on my Cinderella shoes - lol.
Thanks again MOH

I was all set and ready to go. My daddy came with my in our vintage 1959 Bentley so that I wouldn't be alone on my way to the church. At this point I was getting nervous... but still holding it together. Breath in , Breath out. ;)

I'm going to the chapel and I'm gonna get married...

Up next in the Glamnuptials: The Ceremony

Glamuptials: Our details

Previous Glamuptial posts:

• Beauty Time Part 1
• The Guestbook
• Decor Elements

* * * * * *
I love detail shots and knew I had to have some of those in my wedding pictures. Since I worked hard DIYing some elements of my attire, I wanted to make sure I had pictures to remember forever all the hard work and crazy hours I spent. When the photographer arrived I asked him if he could take pictures of our details and he did just that.

I absolutely adore these pictures of my wedding dress. Its simply stunning. How I wish I could wear it all day long. Seriously ... lol

My beautiful wedding dress

Detailing of the bodice

I loved all my bling. It was very glamorous and representative of my overall theme. I literally felt like a million dollars wearing my jewelry.

My oh-so glamorous necklace

Our beautiful rings

My DIY Swarvoski Brooch which I absolutely love

My awesome taupe shoes with my vintage embellishment

My beautiful bouquet with my DIY bouquet jewels

These details were for Mr.Flamingo and his first love - Superman. I wanted to have something extra special for him and my DIY Superman Garter definitely caught everyone's attention. His Cufflinks were perfect and cute, I must admit.

The beautiful superman garter I made for Mr.Flamingo

Mr.Flamingos Superman Cuff links

Up next in the Glamuptials : Prep time

Photoshoping made easy

Being a designer, I need to work with Photoshop (sometimes). Now, I’m no pro, but I thought I could go a good job of color correcting pictures. When we hired our wedding photographer, I didn’t want them to do any color corrections because I could do it myself (and save extra $$$ at the same time) little did I know it isn’t as easy as it seems. I wanted pictures like I’ve seen on various wedding photographer sites, but all my corrections looked nothing like what they have.

At the beginning of the week one of my fellow bees (Lemon) introduced me to Totally Rad Photoshop Actions. Now for the ones who don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, actions at recorded steps in this case to improve/color correct you photos. They are extremely easy to use - you literally just click on the play button.

Here is a picture from my after wedding photo shoot, that I absolutely love. I attempted to edit it, using one of their sample action called Super fun happy:

Before:After:

As you can see, it really add that dramatic effect. I played with it a little...so I did more than just click on the play button, but still I think the outcome is perfect... almost as though I was a professional color corrector ;)

If you visit their website you can see tonnes of before and after shots. That way you get a glimpse of all the possibilities. Here are other before and after pictures… see the difference. Its stunning and adds that WOW factor.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

If you have Photoshop (CS2 or higher) and would like to experiment with these awesome actions, visit their website to receive their samples. But if you want to plunge in the world of hours and hours of fun and easy editing, I would suggest you purchase their action kit. (but you really need to do lots of photo correcting for it to be worth it)

Plus, Totally Rad recently won the Bludomain Actions Of The Year contest, and to celebrate they are putting all their awesome tools on sale through midnight 8/3/08. Save up to $25. How awesome is that!

Will you be attempting to color correct your own photos? What tools will you be using?

Image source: Totally Rad

Bridesmaid Gifts

Gift giving is always fun, but its extremely hard when all your Bridesmaids have different personality and style. I still wanted to give them the same gift, so that they would all have something in common and representative of the wedding.

I personally had a really hard time figuring out what I would give them, but after months of searching I finally found something I think they all would like. Since pink was an important color in the wedding I decided to have a pink themed gift.

I got the girls a bag of goodies. Inside: personalized pink silk jewelry rolls. I thought this was a classic gift that can be used to secure all their jewelry. Youngest sister flamingo, doesn't wear jewelry, but she has piercings galore. I figured one day, she will use it, or in the meantime will store her body jewelry in it.


The second part of their gift, was one Pink 2GB SanDisk Cruzer Gator. I thought this was perfect for them to keep all their photos and important documents. I know I use Flash cards all the time, I just hope they will too.
I also added a journal for each girl. Where I wrote on the first page a personalized note. I mostly thanked them for being part of my wedding and sharing in our special day. It was nice seeing them open their gifts and get all teary eyed when reading the message.

For my MOH I got her a little something more. Since she was stressing out more than me, I got her a gift certificate at a beautiful local spa - perfect to relax, and after helping me out with the wedding... a spa seemed really nice.

They seemed really happy with their gifts... I hope they use them well. Did you give your bridesmaid a themed gift?


Images: Jewlery Rolls , Flash Card, Certificate
Photography: IPI - Events

Photo Shoot: DIY Bouquet

On Friday, I had my wedding shoot, you know ... so that I can have nice pictures of Mr.Flamingo and I, because our wedding photographer didn't deliver. I went all out, I went to the hairdresser and I got my makeup done like I was getting married all over again. (I feel a preview pic coming up....now!)


I realized I needed a bouquet for the shoot, but didn't feel like spending an arm and a leg for a fake wedding bouquet. Since I wanted to DIY my flowers for my wedding but that didn't fall through, I decided to attempt my first DIY bouquet, and I was really happy with the results.

I had peonies for my wedding blooms but that was out of the question for this DIY bouquet (they are no longer in season in July) so I opted for inexpensive off white minature carnations. Since they are full bodied flowers, when putting them together look very similar to peonies.

Here are the steps to making your own bouquet:

Materials:
1 - Flowers of your choice (miniature carnations - 9.99$)
2 - Floral tape (1.00$)
3 - Corsage pins (1.00$)
4 - Wide satin ribbon (2.79$)
5 - Scissors or Cutters (0$)


If you buy your flowers several days in advance, I would suggest putting them in a cool place. Since Mr.Flamingo LOVES the AC, our apartment was as cold as a freezer which was perfect for the flowers. If your fiance isn't an AC fanatic, best put the blooms in a fridge (preferably food free, otherwise your flowers will grab the smell of yesterdays meal.) I prepared my flower the day before the shoot that way, it was less work the day of.

Step 1: Remove all thorns, leaves or bruised petals on each stem. If you have more than once bloom per stem, you can separate them (but make sure you have a long enough stem (minimum 5 inches)


Step 2: Make clusters of about 5 bloom and wrap the stems with the floral tape. Make sure you stretch the floral tape so that it sticks well. Leave a good 1.5 inches of stems floral tape free. That way you can put them back in water and your flowers will have all the water they need which result in less withering.

Step 3: Once you've completed all your clusters, start bunching them together to make one big cluster. Use your floral tape to secure the clusters into one big handle. Again, leave a 1.5"-2" free at the bottom.

Step 4: Cut all the stems to the same length. Making a clean cut handle.


Step 5: Starting at the top, wrap your handle with the satin ribbon overlapping each turn. Once you've covered all the floral tape, take yours corsage pins and pick them in a angle (towards the floor) You can do any pattern you like, I simply went all the way down.



Voila your bouquet is done. Place your bouquet in water until the very last moment (when your ready to take your bridal pics) A professional looking bouquet for the fraction of the costs. My bouquet cost me only 14.00$ to make. Beats the florists 100-125$ fee don't you think?

Glamuptials: Beauty time (Part 1)

When I had my hair trial, I felt there was some vintage missing in my do. I followed what many of yous suggested and asked my hairdresser to make me some finger curls. I didn't go for a second trial, because my hairdresser insisted not to, so I only saw the final product the day of my wedding, I know - crazy.

The day before the wedding, I went to get my hair washed and get my curls started. It took a long time, because well... finger curls are a unique request now a days. Plus, I was lucky, I got to sleep will all kinds of hair pins (ya like the huge black one) to make sure everything stayed in place for the morning after. (But regardless - I slept like a baby)

Here is the morning of... I look like I didn't sleep alot (which is true indeed - I was finishing up my moms jewelry until 2am - Crazy Flamingo! I know) But regardless I slept quite well. Plus my MOH kept me company all night, so I wouldn't feel an empty space in my bed.

I had given my younger sister the camera but she didnt do a great job of taking pictures, so these are random pics of my hairstyle (which by the way I LOOOOVVVVEEEEDDDD)

Close up of the curls and my beautiful rhinestone comb.

Don't even ask me what I'm doing here, seems like quite an awkward pose.
I guess my friends were trying to show EVERY angle ;)

Everybody loved my hair, with the exception of my mom. Lets just say my mom felt she needed to tell everyone in my family that she disliked my hair so when it came time for the receiving line, I would be greeted with "Congratulations, and I love your hair by the way, don't listen to your Mom... you look gorgeous and your hair matches your vintage theme"

I was a bit shocked about the whole thing, I mean why would my mom do that. Plus its not like one person mentioned this, but at least 5 different people. Why? I have no clue, but I let it slide. I loved my hair and thats what counts right?

If I were to do it all over again (wait I am.... I am having my photo shoot today) I would go for a vintage hairstyle hands down. I say the hell with what everyone says... do what you want. Its your wedding :)

Glamuptials: Decor elements

If there is one thing I loved about my wedding, was definitely my decor elements. Everything was perfect, from my photo corner to my menus. I know, I went crazy with the details but at least my guests pointed out sometime during the evening. Plus, they still tell me now... how beautiful everything was. Hurray I've accomplished what I wanted.

The overall feel and look that I wanted for my reception site was easy: vintage and glam. The wedding show people did a great job adding some extra glamour elements to the decor, but the hard work paid off.

This is a last minute DIY project, I made reserved seating cards for Mr.Flamingo and I. I made cards using the same elements as our invitations. I ppted for Bride & Groom because in french Bride = Mariée and Groom = Marié, not much of a difference and with a little too much to drink I sensed some confusion. The words in english seemed perfect, and no one else read them but us. I used ivory satin ribbon to attached the cards to the back of the chair.


I had mentionned before wanting to have inexpensive linens or something in chocolate brown to cut the white linen that were provided by the venue. Well with lots of research and very little time left to the wedding, I came to the realization that nice/inexpensive wasn't possible. So I decided to DIY my table decor. I opted for table runners (to cut costs) but I didn't have time to take pictures, and I don't know if I would of because lets just say : I can't sew for my life actually I can't even cut long length of material in a straight line. So ya, I wasnt too proud they weren't very straight. ;) (But no once noticed - luckily)



Our beautiful menus. Every guest got a menu carefully tucked in their napkin. I printed them in brown to add some extra color to the table and the type was in ivory. My menus were long an narrow to add length to the place seating. My menus were in French, English and Italian.


Our guests liked our centerpieces but loved our table numbers. In my flickr account, where my guests uploaded their pictures, I have over 10 shots of just our table numbers. I'm glad they liked them, because I LOVED them and its heartbreaking when you work so hard on something and no one pays attention.

The escort card tree was such a beautiful piece. They actually installed spots at the bottom of the tree so when it got darker the crystal swags would shine. What I loved too, is that they made the bottom match my centerpieces. They used square mirrors to surround the pot and added sticker rhinestones for the glam.

The photo area was great. We took lots of pictures with our friends and family. We had rented the lamp posts, but didn't know how to place them in our hall. The wedding show rented bushes and placed it as though it seemed we were outdoors. We kept the bench (we bought it from Wal-Mart) so I'm excited to put in outside once we have our first house.

Whats your favorite decor element at your wedding?

Up next: Glamuptials: Beauty time