Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Wedding

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You’re Cordially Invited

Filed Under: Life Tagged With:

When it comes to wedding invitations, there are a lot of rules. Just search for “how to word an invitation” or “how to address an envelope” for weddings and there are millions of results (maybe). There’s a lot out there, and do you know what I learned after reading up on all of it? Do whatever the heck you want. Don’t want to write out “two-thousand and fifteen?” Don’t! Think writing “Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Stock” seems outdated? It is! So you write those invites however you want. I sure did. And look how pretty they are!

Invite2Like the save the dates, I got my invites from Elli. Like last time, they were perfect. Super easy to work with, accommodated customization requests and were super affordable. I’m not a paid spokesperson but, boy, I should be.

Invite1When it came time to wrap these all up, I had to take a step back. I saw so many cute ideas for binding all the pieces together and I was in the craft store, I was thinking oh, I could get some fancy lace and sew it around or what if I customized little tags and used velveteen ribbon. And then I had to take a step back. As much as I wanted my invitations to be pretty and memorable and fitting, I also needed to remind myself that in a few months, all of this will be in someone’s recycling bin. With that in mind, I put back the tags and the lace and wax seals. Instead I tied the RSVP and the invite together with twine and sealed the envelope with fabric tape (that stuff is seriously cool).

Invite3It took me six hours and two trips to the post office, but I got them all out. Did you know that if the envelope is lumpy (thanks, bakers twine), it’ll cost you an extra 21¢ for every invite. So if you’re thinking of some adorable stamp scheme (which I wasn’t – I mean Johnny Cash stamps, people), keep in mind that your perfect flower stamp will have an Honest Abe slapped next to it. Word to the wise, people. Post office stuff.

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Short Story: Teacup Centerpieces

Filed Under: Make Tagged With: ,

Until I was engaged, I refused to pin wedding stuff. That’s right: no “Future Wedding” board, no dream dresses, not even a checklist that says “pin now or regret forever!” My one exception was this little gem here. So I thought, if I suddenly become a millionaire, I’ll have teacup centerpieces. 

Teacup2Well, turns you don’t have to be rolling in it to have similar exquisite arrangements. As it so happens, all you need is a fiancé that loves tea (Michael and I have had a lot of tea parties in our day) and a few bucks.

With that one pin and our venue in mind, I headed over to my nearest Goodwill to see if they had any vintage teacups. I was of the mindset that there was no way I’d be able to find anything that fit the pre-1950s feel that I was aiming for at a Goodwill – you’d need an adorable antique store for that sort of thing. I know, I’m a Negative Nancy. But I browsed the china section and immediately found four beautiful cups and matching (or close enough) saucers all for under $5. After a few more trips I had something like 15 cups for which I paid $20. Yeah. I’m good at deals.

Well, I’ve been sitting on these cups for a while and I figured that I shouldn’t wait until the day before the wedding to try my hand at an arrangement. So I hiked over to my local grocer and picked up a bunch of ranunculus, mini hydrangeas and lemon leaves. And that’s all you need: your cups, a handful of flowers and some floral foam.

Teacup3Now, I won’t give you a how-to on arranging because I’m no expert. My mom, however, is, and you can bet I’m banking on her florist skills to make these little arrangements look even better (and to maybe help me pick out some better flowers for this particular application). One pro tip I’ll leave you with: ranunculus stems are flimsy as heck. If you want to stick them into wet floral foam without them bending all over, just cut a straw the length of that stem and thread the flower through that. It will stabilize the stem and allow you to use my favorite flower of all time.

Teacup1And because Michael and I are old old souls (and he’s a literature dude and I’m a writer), these babies are going to be staged on a stack of old books. Yes, I know that’s on Pinterest too, but it’s still a good idea.

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Save the Super Chill Date

Filed Under: Life Tagged With:

Whoa! Wedding planning can be a real trip. I’ve got people asking me about colors, themes, who’s in the party and on and on; because I’m a totally ill-equipped super chill bride-to-be, I have very few solid answers. It’s not like the whole shebang is only in 100 days or anything (it is exactly 100 days away).

But I will admit, maybe some ideas came together when Michael and I ordered these sweet save the dates from Elli (they did an awesome job, got us proofs in a blink of an eye, and we got them in the mail in just a few days – highly recommend).

Save the date from Elli.com

I had a whole Pinterest board dedicated to stationary, and I sat down with Michael and told him to pick a card any card. He wasn’t entirely into that, so I narrowed it down to three and he picked from there. I say good choice. Even though we’re not having a woodsy wedding, I feel like these work. They have the 1960s National Geographic feel along with some Lost Type action. Plus, I feel like they are Lisa and Michael which is really the whole point. Also shout out USPS for making Johnny Cash stamps – every old man in my family is happy now.

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The Best Place

Filed Under: Adventure, Life Tagged With: ,

Wedding planning is hard, you guys. And it’s especially hard when you have less than five months to do it. I mean holy cats is it a headache. Guest lists, invitations, dresses and caterers – just ugh. Like did you even know that with some caterers the flatware and china is an added cost? Or that dresses take something like eight months to be ordered? I’m convinced it’s all a beautiful lacy racket.

Fortunately, though, picking a venue was a piece of cake: a total one and done situation. Michael and I will be getting married at the Best Place. Seriously the Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery, and it is awesome.

Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery

For you Milwaukee folks, the above photo is pretty well known. I’m pretty sure you all have taken a pic of this sign before. I’m so sure because when my friends and I visited Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub for lunch one day, all four of us pulled out our iPhones and snapped one like a bunch of basics. It’s all with good reason though because this place is beautiful in that old world meets industrial meets German way.

Best_2

This was such a simple decision because besides being affordable, available and perfect, Michael and I have a tiny bit of history with the place. When we first started dating back in 2011, nearly every week we were out taking pictures with an armful of film cameras, and we took these around the Pabst Brewery that summer.

Best_3

The area looks slightly different now. It’s been cleaned up a bit and doesn’t look as foreboding, but it retains all of it’s old school Milwaukee charm, which is my favorite kind of charm.

Best_4

I’m pretty thrilled about this whole thing, even if I can’t figure out catering or decide on any sort of color scheme.

And if you want to visit the old Pabst Brewing area, do it! You can take a tour of the facilities, have a drink and head across the street to Jackson’s Blue Ribbon Pub for some eats (you better get that Bavarian pretzel).