Two Post Tuesday: My DIY garter!

About 2 months back, I posted ideas for a DIY garter. I ended up not using any of those ideas. I went to Joann Fabrics a few days later and found the perfect fabric. John and I have used "puppy" and "kitten" as pet names for each other since the start of our relationship, and so when I saw this fabric, I was done for.

So thus began the DIY garter project. I didn't want a lacy garter, so the fabric I was using would be it. I measured around the point on my leg where I wanted the garter, and found it was 15 inches, so I cut a piece 23.75 inches long (1.5 times the size of my leg, plus .75 inches for a hem) by 4.25 inches wide. I sewed 3/8 inch hems onto the wide side, towards the backside of the fabric.



I then folded the fabric in half, wrong side out, and sewed it together with a 5/8 inch seam allowance.

I then pressed the seam open with an iron, and turned the tube inside out. That was actually the hardest part, since it's not very wide.

After I'd turned the entire tube right side out, I pressed it again so that the seam was centered in the back.

Then I cut a 15 inch piece of elastic and fed it through the tube. I pinned it at the top, and then once I was done scrunching the fabric, I pinned it on the other end.

I hand sewed the elastic together and tied the last stitch through the fabric, then hand sewed the fabric. Here it is, my DIY garter!

What do you think??

Two post Tuesday!

I promised updates from my wedding related weekend, so here we go!

We finally decided on attire for the guys. We went to Men's Warehouse, largely because they have a partnership with David's Bridal and so they carry the same colors. We decided on a two button Joseph & Feiss tux for the guys. The best man will wear the whole tux (vest, tie, shoes, cufflinks, the whole nine yards) and the GM will wear the jacket and pants, buy a matching tie, and wear their own shirts, shoes, etc. BTW, if you're looking to save money on GM attire, that's a good way to do it. It was like, $140 to rent the whole tux, but closer to $60 to just get the jacket and pants.

We have 4 guys in the bridal party, but if you rent 4 tuxes, you get the 5th free. So we decided to get one for my dad. He at first wanted to match my mom, but when he remembered that she's wearing pink, he quickly changed his mind. So we put him in silver. He'll be wearing the same thing as the best man (pattern on the tie and vest included) except in silver.

John already owns a tux. He looks really sharp in it. The only thing he needed was a vest and tie, so he'll be buying a set in platinum. Yay!

Has your groom picked outfits for his guys?

Good news!

On the job front! My current job ends on Monday (sadness) but then I have a new job starting up the next Monday. It's only a month long temp position, and it's at a lower pay rate, but it's still income, you know? It gives me another month to put away money, which is good, because we just saved up enough to pay the balance on our honeymoon (like, last week) and I really didn't want to start using my honeymoon money on bills and necessities.

That said, John and I have been really bad about our wedding plans lately, and we'll be doing some catch-up over the weekend, so prepare for some awesome posts on Monday or Tuesday!

I caved.

There's always this voice in the back of my head that wants to share EVERYTHING with John. For the most part, it's a very good thing. It keeps communication open and honest between us, even when the topic is really difficult (e.g. my recent cold feet).

This voice, however, is also a surprise ruiner. John opens his gifts early, knows what he's getting, and is rarely surprised because I can't keep a secret from him. So far, the only real secret I have in regards to the wedding is my dress, because he has no desire to see it until I walk down the aisle.

Stupid voice made me cave on my big secret: boudoirs. Now, John knew I was taking them. I've seen a lot of knotties talk about how their FIs would be uncomfortable with them taking boudoir pictures, and I didn't want my gift to him to backfire. He was more than fine with the idea, and really really wanted to see the pictures. I said no, I wanted to keep them all secret until the wedding, when I gave him the album as a gift.

Well, I caved and showed him three of the pictures. Not that big of a deal, but part of me is kind of annoyed because I loved the idea of keeping that secret and I couldn't. On the other hand, one/two of the pictures I really wanted his opinion on. I got all my images both in color and black and white, and there was one image I loved, but couldn't figure out if it looked better in color or black and white. So I showed him both. Sigh. Oh well... he had as much trouble figuring out which one he liked more as I did, and suggested selective coloring (keep the reds, eliminate all other colors). The third I just loved, and wanted to show to him. I kept all the other images under wraps though...

Anyone else just incapable of keeping a secret from their FI?

Boudoir Pics are IN!!!

I'm so excited. I've had a few ups and downs with my photographers so far, mostly in that they had a baby, which caused them to really poorly estimate time-of-arrival on my pictures. It was worth it though... they are sooooo hot.

My suggestions:

1. Do it. Seriously. I felt so sexy after taking those pictures, and so good about myself after seeing them. It's also going to be a nice reminder that I was young and hot once when I'm no longer young and hot.

2. Bring a lot of outfits. You'll never know what you like best. One outfit I loved on me, but I'm back and forth on how I feel about it in pictures. But the ones in my Redskins jersey, or in John's hat and scarf are AMAZING, so much sexier than I thought. I also love my non-traditional boudoir outfits: two black dresses. One made for very sexy pictures, and the other made for great, classy photos that we were able to take out in the hallway.

3. Start with fun pictures. My first pictures are of me jumping on the bed in a tank top and shorts, and you can tell from the pictures that I'm having fun. Those came out so much better than I expected.

4. Make suggestions, and take your photographer's suggestions! A lot of the best pictures are ones that I suggested and they tweaked a little.

5. If you're nervous, bring someone. I dragged my MOH along, and I'm glad I did. I felt really comfortable having her there and giving suggestions.

Just enjoy yourself! I'm having an album made for John and I'm giving it to him as a wedding gift. I can't wait to see his face when I give it to him! Did you do boudoir pics? Do you plan to?

I might be back to regular posting? Maybe?

Things are still kind of rough on my end, though I think they're getting better.

I have a job, at least for the next few weeks. Then I have a backup plan. I'm calming down. We decided to go ahead with the wedding as planned.

I had massive cold feet for like a week, talked to John about them, and we agreed that we'd spend a little bit of time apart. I'm pretty sure that they're garden variety cold feet (I talked to my dad about it and he said what I was feeling was normal) but I just want to verify that it's more fear of change and less 'my instincts are telling me something.' I really think it's just a ton of stress and the fact that the wedding is only 4 months away, but I have to be sure.

My pet betta died last night. I came home from work and he was just lying there at the bottom of his bowl. I had him for over 2 years. He was so pretty, deep red and blue and violet in the middle... I miss him. When Fishie was younger, he used to dance when I was about to feed him. John was there for comforting purposes, and I was so glad to have him there. I'm not sure if I'll get another fish or not, it's too soon.

I'm hoping everything comes together soon.

Paaaast... the point of no return..... the final threshhold!

Invitations are now even more key than they were before. In fact, they determine if John and I are getting married on time or not. Based on our current timeline for invites (out May 4, RSVP June 3) our invites have to be printed no later than April 1. This will now be called the "point of no return" (or PONR, for short). We now have three scenarios, each with the possible job combinations we would need for this to occur.

Scenario 1: We get married on 7/3. Ideal.

How we get there: John and I have jobs.

OR

John has a job (I could have no job or a temp job in this situation)

OR

I have a job (he could have no job or a temp job in this situation).

Scenario 2: We postpone. Sadness.

How we get there: John and I don't have jobs

OR

We have temp jobs that are not temp to hire.

Scenario 3: We move the PONR. This is the least likely, and will only be considered in the following situations:

John or I has a temp-to-hire job that will be decided soon after the PONR. The other partner does not have a job

OR

Both John and I have a temp-to-hire job that will be decided soon after the PONR.

If that were the case, we'd move the RSVP date (which we kind of don't want to do, because there's a lot of things we don't want to make or buy until we have RSVPs) thereby moving the printing date. We would only do this if we knew we could find out about the permanence or lack thereof in the job within the next 2 weeks.

Scenario 3 is really possible though, because I just interviewed for a temp-to-hire position within the company I'm currently contracted to. It would go until the end of April, at which time they would decide whether or not to hire me. I could probably find out 2 weeks beforehand if they were planning on hiring me or letting me go, though.

I hate uncertainty.