Brideface NARS Contest!

So perhaps I should be thanking the lovely Nancy at Brideface for posting this contest, because I haven't had a post here in for-ev-er. Maybe this will encourage me to get back to updating this blog. There are still lots of fun (or not so fun) feminist things to rant about.

Anyway, here's the link: http://tinyurl.com/mo2mjy

Definitely check it (and Brideface) out - I wouldn't trust anyone else to make me look all prettiful on my wedding day (or any other day, for that matter). :)

One step closer to equal pay...

I interrupt your regularly scheduled wedding blogging to bring you this breaking announcement. The very first bill President Obama signed (and he signed it today) was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

::jumps up and down excitedly::

Go see for yourselves.

My new make-up inspiration

My MUA recently posted this pic from the red carpet, and I fell in love:


Uber pale skin, slightly smokey eye, and rockin' a berry lip? Absolutely fabulous. We did a trial run during my b-pic shoot, and came up with this:

Whatcha think? To much for walking down the aisle?

Boudoir Pictures

Photo courtesy of Tine Hoffman, www.tmphotography.net

Ah, the ever popular bpics. The latest craze in wedding gifting.

What is boudoir photography, you might ask? Boudoir pictures, also known as intimate photos or "for his eyes only" photos, are a new trend in wedding, bridal, and portrait photography. The word "boudoir" is taken from the french "bouder," meaning to pout, and is translated to mean "a woman's private sitting room, dressing room, or bedroom. The pictures are beautiful and tastefully done sexy portraits, usually taken by a professional photographer.

I finally took the plunge two weekends ago and had them taken, and thanks to my fabulous photographer, I already have the proofs back. Hurray! But this post isn't so much about me as it is about helping YOU - the would-be bpic photographee.

If you're ready to bare your...um...soul ( ;) ) in the search for beautiful, sexy photographs, here are a few tips and tricks to help on your way:


(1) Who should take my boudoir pictures? Can I take them myself?
First, while taking your own bpics might sound like a great way to save some cash, it's also a great way to highlight any and all of those areas of your body that you might be less than super comfortable with. It's also a great way to up the "sketchy" factor in your pics. And do you really want to emulate dirty feet bpic girl? ;)

So, now that you realize that you need a professional, where to look? A good place to start your search is with your wedding photographer. Many already shoot bpics as part of their photography. And even if they don't, they're likely to have great recommendations for you. One caveat - not all photographers, even wedding photographers, are good at shooting bpics. It takes a special eye and skill level to convey sensuality without trashiness, and to use lighting and angles to photograph semi-nude bodies in a classy way. Make sure you ask to see examples of boudoir shoots, not just any old portfolio they happen to have lying around.


(2) Okay, so I've booked my photographer. Where am I supposed to take these?
That really depends on you and your photographer. Some photographers have studios that you can use; if not, you can use your home, or a willing friend's home, or rent a hotel room. As an OOT bride with no family in my photographer's city, my options were to rent a hotel room (and spend even more money) or to use my photographer's awesome new loft studio. Being the money-conscious unemployed attorney that I am, I opted for the studio and am glad I did - and so was my photographer. Most homes and hotel rooms do not offer an adequate amount of natural light, and her studio had GINORMOUS windows (but was off the street, so I didn't have to worry about peeping Toms ;). The photos turned out great - they have a really nice urban edge to them.

(3) Ack! What do I wear???
You should anything and everything you feel sexy in, be that lingerie, your significant other's clothing (I secreted away one of his white button downs and a tie), swimwear, or a corset. You can also wear things like your favorite pair of great fitting jeans, or a sports jersey. The point is to pick things that make you feel sexy, and that your significant other thinks you look great it. Try to bring a variety of outfits (at least 4 or 5), and bring accessories, like stocking, shoes, and jewelry. Also, remember to be open-minded if your photographer suggests mixing and matching your outfits. Their the professionals here, and they know best how things are going to show up on film. One final note: make sure to bring a fabulous pair of heels. It's infinitely easier to "standy sexy" when you're wearing a pair of mile high heels. ;)

Oh, if your tastes wander more towards lingerie than sports jerseys, Elle MacPherson makes some great vintage-y lingerie, your standard Victoria's Secret get-ups wll work well, and Frederick's of Hollywood makes some great corsets (but be sure to check eBay - you can find their corsets for up to half-price there).


(4) How should I prepare for the shoot?
Mentally, repeat after me: I am a beautiful, sexy woman (or man ;)). We ALL have body hang up; that doesn't mean that you can't have great bpics that you and your significant other will love. Your significant other doesn't even notice the flaws you're obsessing over, let alone CARE about them. Learn to do the same. Oh, and a glass of bubbly can't hurt. The more relaxed and comfortable you are with yourself the day of the shoot, the better your pics will look. Physically, make sure everything that you care to show is freshly shaven or waxed. Pamper yourself - get a mani / pedi. Hire a professional MUA to do your makeup and a stylist to do your hair (if you're paying to look good on film, you might as well look REALLY good).

(5) Should I bring someone with me?
That is entirely up to you. If you would feel more comfortable having a close friend with you, then bring a close friend. If you think you would feel more embarassed to have an extra person in the room, skip it. The key is to do whatever will make you feel the most comfortable.

(6) Woohoo! I did it. And the pics are great. But, ummm...how do I give them to my fiance / significant other?
That's entirely up to you. Many individuals put their favorite photographs together into a book and share it with their partner the night before the wedding. Just be careful to include a note or tell him that it's for his/her eyes only, unless you want friends and family to get an eyeful looking over shoulders when your gift is open.

Happy posing! :)

Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

Musical Madness

ACK!

Picking ceremony music is apparently more difficult that it sounds. FI and I actually just spent FOUR HOURS listening to classical pieces to use, though I suppose that was mostly my fault. I refuse to use Canon in D (it's kind of like that "love is patient" quote - if I hear it at one more wedding....) or Wagner's Wedding March (would really rather not having a Nazi-supporter's music playing at my wedding), so out went two of the most popular (if not THE most popular) pieces for ceremonies.

The best resource we found was actually a website for a string quartet called After Five String Quartet. Their website is FABULOUS. It lists their repetoire (which is HUGE) and includes mp3 files to each of the songs, all set up in a nifty little online spreadsheet that lets you know what part of your ceremony each song would be appropriate for, and how many times each song has been requested by brides and grooms for each part of the ceremony. It really is great.

So between the After Five page and iTunes, FI and I were finally able to decide on an order of music for the ceremony:


Prelude
Corelli - Pastorale

Seating Family
Handel - Air (from Water Music Suite in F)

Party Processional
Bach - Air (from Suite No. 3)

Bride Chorus
Bach - Ave Maria

Recessional
Vivaldi - Spring (3d Movement)

Now to just make sure our ceremony musicians are comfortable with all of these pieces. ::fingers crossed::

Designing Your Ceremony

My fellow knotties reminded me that I have been way to lax in blogging, so here's the first in a slew of posts that will update everyone on what's been going on.


I'm not particularly religious. At all. And FI is what I would call semi-religious. He's an agnostic, but was an altar boy growing up and his parents are still very active members of their church. I am willing to use his/their Reverend for the ceremony (because it means a lot to him/them - though I have to admit I find it cool that our officiant is a woman), but there are some aspects of the ceremonies I found in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer that I simply was very uncomfortable with.

FI and I had our first pre-marital counseling meeting with our officiant (we got the results of our compatibility test - apparently we passed ;)), and she suggested that we start working on our ceremony. Sensing our discomfort with the BoCP, our officiant suggested that we look into the New Zealand Prayer Book as an alternative to he typical Episcopal marriage ceremony, and I'm happy to report that we were able to find a ceremony that we could both agree on.

We had to do a little rearranging of terms, however. For instance I was uncomfortable with a line that stated, "In marriage, MAN and WOMAN belong together," - didn't want to exclude any of any of our LGBTQ friends so we deleted it, and we changed "you have taken so and so" to "you have CHOSEN so and so."

We were also very happy to find that the Third Form of Marriage (the form that we picked) didn't require us to pick a reading from the OT (I can't stand most of the readings people pick from there, e.g. the whole woman from man's rib, etc.), so we were able to pick a reading that I felt. It's actually quite pretty and meaningful:

9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited.

17Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Romans 12:9-18).

See? Pretty.

Anyway, I had a REALLY hard time finding the service online, so I posted it in my bio. If you'd like to take a look, click here.

Happy ceremony planning....

~ H.

And this is what happens when you don't have a job....

Photo courtesy of marthastewart.com

Sorry, loyal readers, that I haven't been terribly up on posting as of late. I've been suffering through this bout of shingles, and have been super doped up on pain meds and pretty sleepy. But, luckily, the shingles seem to be almost disappeared and I've decided it's time to rejoin the productive members of society. So yesterday I decided to buckle down and work on one of our DIY projects - envelope liners for our Save-the-Date cards.

It's not that we NEED envelope liners, but if you don't have a job yet because of the crappy economic climate, and you're spending your days rearranging furniture, making calls on behalf of a presidential campaign (go Obama!), and doing wedding planning (i.e. playing on The Knot), envelope liners start to almost look like fun.

So....if you find yourself as bored as I have been lately, here are some instructions for some handy dandy envelope liners to spruce up your boring envelopes.

What you"ll need:


Paper
I went with wrapping paper from a neighborhood store in a black and white almost-but-not-quite damask print. Each role was 5' x 30" and only cost me $3.99 (yeah, even wrapping paper is expensive in NYC ;)). I ended up using a little over two rolls to make 85 liners.

A cutting surface
I pulled out my handy dandy rotary cutting mat from the DIY pocketfold project

A cutting tool
Again, I pulled out the rotary trimmer from the pocketfold project, but a paper cutter or even a pair of scissors would also work - though I believe the process would be much slower)

Metal ruler
Pretty self explanatory

Adhesive
I used Elmer's washable glue stick (it's what FI came back from the store with ;)). You could also use glue dots or double-sided tape, but this actually seemed to be the easiest and most cost-effective way to do it.

A bone folder
Indespensible. If you don't have one, go buy one. You'll use it in sooooo many projects.

Oh...and don't forget your envelopes. ;)

Step 1

The first thing you'll need to do is measure your envelope. The width of your liner will need to be the width of your envelope MINUS 1/4 inch - ours ended up being 8 3/4" (for a vista print envelope that matched the oversized postcards).

The height of the liner can be a bit more tricky. Our envelopes were flatter (not pointy) flaps (hurray for easy!) so I just measured from the bottom of the envelope to right beneath the gum on the flap to get the height of our liners - 6 7/8".


Step 2

Cut your paper. I realized that I could fit three liners in the width of the paper, so I simply cut the roll into 6 7/8" strips. I then cut each of these strips into 8 3/4" chunks. I was able to get 3 liners per strip; 24 liners per roll.


Once each liner was cut, I needed to cut the corners for the flap. Getting the right angle was a bit tricky, but here's what I did. To get the angle, I measured the distance from the edge of the flap (where the flap meets the body) to where the glue strip ended. See picture.


And this is where having a cutting surface with a grid and edge rulers comes in INCREDIBLY useful. I was able to simply line the top edge of the liner up with the edge of the board (conveniently next to a ruler) and the side edge of the liner with a grid square. I was then able to place my metal ruler on the liner at the corner of the grid square at the appropriate height (in this case, 1"), and on the corresponding measure on the ruler at the enge of the mat (in this case 3/8" away from the edge of the liner). Then I was able to simply cut along the ruler to get instant perfect angle. I know it sounds incredibly complicated, but one's you do one or two, you'll fly through the rest of them. (Enlarge the pic and you'll be better able to see what I mean).


Step 3

Insert liner into envelope, print side up, trying to make sure the liner is centered in the envelope.

Step 4

Fold down the flap of the envelope, and use your bone folder to make a light crease. Don't press to hard at this step, or your likely to have a double line when you do the next folding after the glue.

Here's FI FINALLY helping. He wouldn't agree to do the glue, but he finally stopped grumbling enough about me asking him to stop playing Final Fantasy to do Step 4 for me.

Step 5

Life the flap of your envelope, but leave the liner folded down.


Step 6

Insert a scrap piece of paper between the liner and the bottom of the envelope, then use your adhesive to lightly coat the back of the liner.

Step 7

(Doing it this way definitely helped to make sure that the liner laid flat with no wrinkles). Push the liner onto the flap, and lightly tap it down. THEN fold over the flap and liner, and use your bone folder to smooth it out and make sure the liner adheres to the flap. This time you can press harder, because you want a smooth, sharp crease.

Step 8

Open the flap and admire your handiwork. :)

Step 9

Admire handiwork when combined with DIY STD's. Pat yourself on the back for being awesome. ;)

Questions? Leave 'em in the comments section, and I'll get to them as soon as I can. Happy lining! :)