if only...

If only I had like 300 less guests (heck, I'd attempt this if I had 150 guests!), and if only I wasn't in school, I would be ALLLLLLL OVER this project.... maybe i can somehow incorporate this into something???? somehow?? anyone? anyone? Bueller?

Unfortunately, I think Mr. Ramen might want to leave me if I add one more craft to our DIY list.... although these menu wheels are really too sexy...

Seriously. How are people so creative???? And where can I get that? If I had just 0.0000000095132 of that talent... anyways. Go here for the directions. From Anna of Rifle Design, via DesignSponge. Genius. Pure genius.

What's the one project you wish you could do but can't (because of time/money/guestlist)?

seriously?!?!?!

so, i had a minor meltdown when my google countdown hit the 100 mark.... and now i'm realizing that we're at about the 80 day mark.... and i have uhm, let's see - EVERYTHING left to do.... and uhhhhhhh 80 days is like 2 1/2 months left to go! dahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. it's been too easy for the past couple of weeks or so to just relax (aka read weddingbee, check email, refresh weddingbee, check facebook, repeat), focus on school (ehhhh, kinda?), and try to tell myself that i have puh-lenty of time left to get my crafting on. but i actually don't....

we still have yet to assemble and address and send the invites, work on the programs, finish up our reception decor, make menu cards, escort cards, order flowers and glassine bags, buy moss and river rocks, make corsages and boutonierres, thank you cards, kiddie bags, and coordinate everything with our vendors, bridal party, DOC, and families. whew! that's probably not even half of it...

on one hand, i'm super excited to be married to my best friend and can't wait to get to the wedding day, but on the other much much much larger Shaq-sized hand, i'm completely TERRIFIED that my worst nightmares are coming true and i'm not going to get all of my wedding crafting done in time - not to mention my wedding workouts. urgh (kinda want to be able to eat on my wedding day...). and the fact that school is starting to pile up is not helping. at all.

so i've decided that i shall make mineself a schedule - and actually stick to it this time. no more wasting (too much) time on the internet! (but i still love technology, always and forever.)

i guess this is good news for the hive (i know, i know, so loving and sacrificial of me); i've got my gratuitous-wedding gocco in one hand, my burn-inducing glue gun in the other, and my camera USB cable plugged in - get ready for a torrent of craftiness! there's no time to lose!

at what point in YOUR countdown did you finally kick your butt into high gear? what do you have left on your list to do?

Snap Happy!

Back in the day, when I started reading Weddingbee on a regular basis, I would read about all of these wedding photographers - Scott Robert, Jessica Claire, Jose Villa, Jen Skog, etc... and I started to check out their blogs on a regular basis. One of these amazing photographers was Lunaphoto, whose work I quite quickly fell in love with.... and then tried to persuade myself to not love them, since I knew that they HAD to be totally outside of any photography budget I could fathom.

After hearing COUNTLESS married friends tell me they wished they had splurged on their photography, I was determined to get the most bang for my buck. Once we were engaged, I started pounding in the doctrine of splurging on photography to Mr. Ramen. Being the designer that he is, he was completely on board - although he was a bit astounded at the amount I wanted to splurge... I told him I was willing to cut out other things, like a videographer and a dj in order to have my dream photos! When I grew up and realized that $10k is NOT within any budget I could ever even dream of having, we began emailing photogs to see if we could maybe afford to squeeze into one of their smaller packages. But our list of requirements was long! We wanted at least 10 hours of coverage for the day-of, an album, an E-session, and the digital proofs from our wedding. For much less than $10k. I bit my nails, seeing if we would ever find the perfect photog that would be willing to work with 2 aesthetic-crazed, empty-wallet students.

Re enter Lunaphoto. After making Mr. Ramen look at a million different wedding photographer blogs, only one really stood out to him - yup, it was LP. I quickly emailed them and so began our relationship with them. We loved their style, their concept and grasp of lighting, the classic clean lines, the crisp vivid images, the romance, the ultra-modern and sexy yet still traditional style... and once I saw this image, I was done; there was no way we could choose anyone else! :

I scheduled an appointment to meet up with Mike and Paula in the SD studio/loft, where I fell in love with their GORGEOUS home. Once I saw their Barcelona chairs, the same ones that Mr. Ramen had been pointing out to me, I knew we had found photographers who had the same aesthetics as we did. They offered us a package that fit our needs and we could afford, AND included travel (they're based in SD and our wedding is in Phx)! We were overjoyed that things worked together soooo smoothly, and quickly booked them.

Mike and Paula are in incredibly high demand and get to travel ALL over the world to shoot weddings (I'm totally jealous of their lives!). Since Mr. Ramen and I aren't based in SD, and because the Lunas are jetsetters, we decided to do a day-after shoot in lieu of an engagement session. This actually works out PERFECTLY, since we will be more relaxed, and I get to wear my precioussss a second time, and I get to have my desert photo session that I've been dreaming about, and we won't have to be all stressed and rushing around to take photos on our wedding day!

I'm super excited to work with Lunaphoto and I could go on and on and ON about how awesome they are, or what is so great about their style (I guess I kinda already did that, hah!), but I'll just let their work speak for itself. These are just a FEW of my favorites (can you tell that I looooove B&W???)! Enjoy!

Ramen Photography Tips:

• Personally, I feel this is the one area to splurge in - even if you don't splurge on flowers, you want amazing pictures!
• With that being said, there are a TON of up and coming wedding photogs that are awesome AND super affordable. Sister Ramen did tons of research and found a relatively new photog who fits within her budget and still is going to provide the look and style that she wants.
• Make a list of what is most important to you - an E-session, albums, prints, hours. Keep these in mind when you are contacting photographers.
• Make sure you get everything spelled out in your contract, including hours, # of prints/proofs, travel costs, etc. It's always good to have everything on paper for weddings!
• Getting married in the "off-season" worked for us; although Oct-Feb is the high season for weddings in AZ, its the low season for most photogs in more milder weathered states. Because it's slow, some photogs will consider discounts! So don't necessarily rule out a photog just because they're in another state and are in high demand!
• If you MUST have an expensive photog, consider hiring them to only shoot the ceremony and part of the reception, and asking a talented friend or a starting photog to shoot the getting-ready and later-reception shots.
• Make sure you factor travel time into your day-of photoshoot schedule!
• Meet with your photog in person before signing a contract! Personality matters A LOT when you are being "watched" by a person for 10+ hours. And it's back to that whole "clicking" thing. You'll know.

How did you know you had found the right photographer?

where is the love?

apparently everywhere. is it something in the water??? global warming?

mr. ramen and i have entered the twilight zone in life when all of our friends and families are getting married/engaged... last year, i attended a whopping 8 weddings... this year, we've collectively been invited to 7 weddings, not including ours..... WHEW! (4 were in the month of august alone!)

in my extended family, one of my cousins has gotten married each year since '06! (ours will be the 2nd wedding in 09). on top of that, sister/MOH ramen got engaged 4 months after me and will be getting married in the summer of 2010! (so that's 2 weddings in my immediate family - in 6 months! yes, my parents are excited, haha)

i had the extreme privilege of swapping places with my sister (remember, she hid and took pictures of my engagement from afar) and helping surprise her at her engagement back in April - and plan a surprise dessert celebration engagement party later that evening for her and her fiance. and because we all love a good engagement story:

since they met while attending the same church during their undergrad days at UCSD, FBIL Ramen decided to plan to revisit some of their "spots" in La Jolla/SD that were significant to their relationship before his proposal.... so he made a little schedule for the day....

his plan was to take her on an "evening stroll" around coronado island before dinner... where they would sit down on the grass, enjoy the afternoon, and he would propose..... little did he know that there was a wedding that was going on in the exact place he wanted to propose!!!!!

this beautiful wedding was actually being photographed by Melissa Jill, a Phoenix area photographer (who has actually photographed a few of my friends' weddings)! Craaaaazy. I actually took this picture for inspiration for myself (black dresses, awesome flowers). Is that creepy? Uhhhhhh.... anyways!

so FBIL Ramen led Sister Ramen to the opposite side to hang out; she wanted to watch the wedding, and he wanted to have a long meaningful chat... hahah. most of their relationship has been long distance and they've been very committed to writing each other LETTERS. on PAPER. too cute! so as part of his proposal, FBIL Ramen actually wrote a long letter to Sister Ramen. At the end he pulled her to her feet, got down on one knee and proposed! I actually don't have a picture of this moment, because I was busy taking a video to show my parents.

Sister Ramen was sooooo shocked that she didnt' realize they had their own private paparazzi!!!! FBIL Ramen had arranged for his good friend, Jeremy to take pictures of the engagement.... Because Mr. Ramen and I had gotten engaged so recently, and because FBIL Ramen had said he wasn't quite ready, Sister Ramen was not expecting a proposal so soon - and her shock and joy were quite apparent....

It was soooo crazy to be a part of this ultimate surprise! And of course the ring - FBIL Ramen picked out a beautiful round cut center stone, surrounded by 2 pears (he might have had a little bit of help from yours truly; because that's what sisters are for!)

They went to dinner to bask in their love and newly-engaged status, while the rest of us scurried off to set up a surprise dessert party for them! I got to pull out my party-planning hat, and came up with some quick and easy decorations....

Such as the ever-easy brown paper bag luminarias. I used a bunch of different shaped hole-punches and 2 different sized bags. Punch holes in a random pattern, drop in a tealight and voila! Instant pretty!

Another simple decoration - paper chandeliers! You essentially punch/cut out a bunch of different sized circles, and then you can tape or glue them to a piece of string. These look good when they're a bit random, and look the best if you use different kinds of paper. The flowers they are holding are actually some ranunculus that I found at Costco!!! That place rocks.

The plethora of desserts we supplied (Sister Ramen is NOTORIOUS for her sweet tooth!) - Kahlua Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Ice Cream Cake, Miss Ramen's famous cookies, and Ice Cream - and a little Martinellis to toast!

One of Sister Ramen's friends let us use his house - and even painted a congrats sign for them -so sweet (and YES, he knew there was typo...)... I'm soooo happy for my sister, and am looking forward to getting to focus on her wedding - it's also made it easier to justify buying certain things since we can share them!

Did you get to share the timing of your engagement/wedding planning with someone close to you?