Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Wedding season

Wedding season is upon us, yes? Despite the fact facebook has figured out I'm recently engaged so is showing me featured ads of tacky bridesmaid dress companies and bridalwear, my newsfeed is positively clogged up with profile pictures of shiny diamond rings and status updates about planning hen dos.

In my own wedding-planning whirlwind I'm doing my best to sidestep anything quote unquote "too weddingy."  But as it's a pretty big deal and I'm planning on getting married just the once, it's nice to put a little thought into the little things.  So as I was recently on the lookout for a couple bridesmaid gifts, I thought I would do a blogpost of ideas for weddingy-gifts from my etsy shop and from other etsy shops. Because there's just too many illustrations of champagne glasses in the world.



1.  Stationery

If it's you that's getting married, you'll most likely need to let people know.  Let people know when the gig is.  Let them know how to get there.  Let them know they need to save the date.  Let them know where to sit, what's for dinner, let them know they need to sign your guestbook.  You'll need to let them know you think they're ace and you couldn't have made this thing happen without them.  You'll need to let them know how much you love the awesome vase that they brought for you as a gift.



Get someone nice to design all this stuff - it's important.  Also, if you know someone that's getting married who doesn't know anything about how to make shit look good, offer to sort their stationery as a gift.  I can work with you to create invites, tea towels, menus, thank you cards... nice stuff for someone's big day.


Don't buy that rubbishy stuff from those rubbishy companies, it just looks bad. Plus, Holy Guacamole you could have wedding stationery like this. 

2.  Something little to give


Sometimes you need to give something a little something to say thank you or you're ace or let's remember this forever.  I make these "I'm yours, you're mine" mini-people which are good as a wedding gift for the couple-to-be, or as a wedding gift for you and your man-to-be.  Have mini versions of each other to keep in each others pockets.

Or... why not get miniature versions of the bride and groom, and give them to your guests?




3.  An unfamiliar pendant


Jade. Jade is special.  Pink jade encourages love, wealth and protection. Like all jade, it symbolises wisdom, justice, compassion, modesty and courage.   Rhodonite is a stone of compassion, an emotional balancer that clears away emotional wounds and scars from the past, and that nurtures love.  It stimulates, clears and activates the heart.  Rhodonite grounds energy, balances yin-yang, and aids in achieving one’s highest potential.  These beautiful pendants are from etsy seller AnUnfamiliarRing  Your bridesmaids might need something special.  You also might need a pretty pendant to wear on your special day.  Make sure you've got the right stone to keep you emotionally balanced and clear-headed. I know I'll need as much of that as I can get. 


4.  You guys got engaged. YES!
Flowers are awesome.  I swear every time I get flowers it feels like the first time I've ever gotten flowers.  They don't get old.

But they do die, gosh darn it.  How's about a custom illustration of flowers? A custom illustration of the newly-engaged's home? A custom illustration of the lovely couple? You can have them printed on paper or even made up as a pillow.  Now that's a pretty awesome gift.




This house portrait I did recently for a lady in North Hollywood, she bought it as a gift for her husband's birthday.  "I gave my husband the illustration last night and he loved it!!! His birthday is today but I made him open it at midnight because I was dying to give it to him."


5.  If in doubt, vases are still awesome.
We have received a lot of invitations over the past few years that contain a very presumptuous note stating that instead of gifts, the bride and groom request money towards a honeymoon - or worse yet - money without even any explanation of where it will be spent.  Call me old fashioned but we won't be including anything of the sort in our invitations.  I cringe! 


If people want to give us gifts, that's awesome! But we're getting married to be married.  That's it, dudes.  Gifts? That's a bonus.  An awesome vase? Nice!!! We'll always remember you when we look at it. (Awesome vase above from Esther Griffith's etsy)  If it's hideous, we might keep it in the cellar when you're not around.  But we'd much rather you just came to our wedding, that's the main thing.  And if you want to buy us a dope gift, get us something you've picked out.  But we don't take cheques.  

So...


First wedding instalment over.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Currently we're trying to juggle Autumn dates and locations and registrars.  I've looked at a few dresses and admittedly laid in bed at night thinking about food and flowers and stuff.  However, with an early October marathon to train for and focus on, I think I have eradicated the sliver of hope my mother held out of me being the conventional bride she was hoping for!!!  


Wedding planning? psh. I have a PB to smash.  


5 comments:

  1. That vase is gorgeous! My husband is deploying to Afghanistan in a couple of months and I'd love to send him a custom pocket girlfriend!

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    Replies
    1. Hey Kelsey! If you want any help sorting one out just gimme a shout. I have customizable pocket girlfriends in my etsy shop, I think it'd make a lovely gift for your hubby :)

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  2. Your wedding will be awesome - I'm so excited for you! I wish I'd known about your stuff when I got married. I was quite anti-wedding though and DIY-ed all my wedding garb (I made feather corsages/buttoniers and spray-painted charity shop vases), got my rings from ebay and dress from Topshop. It's much more fun that way and doesn't cost the price of a family car. Happy planning!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your wedding will be awesome - I'm so excited for you! I wish I'd known about your stuff when I got married. I was quite anti-wedding though and DIY-ed all my wedding garb (I made feather corsages/buttoniers and spray-painted charity shop vases), got my rings from ebay and dress from Topshop. It's much more fun that way and doesn't cost the price of a family car. Happy planning!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your wedding will be awesome - I'm so excited for you! I wish I'd known about your stuff when I got married. I was quite anti-wedding though and DIY-ed all my wedding garb (I made feather corsages/buttoniers and spray-painted charity shop vases), got my rings from ebay and dress from Topshop. It's much more fun that way and doesn't cost the price of a family car. Happy planning!!

    ReplyDelete