My Veil, Part I

NOTE TO S. -- This is a special bridal post. DO NOT PASS GO!!

I thought I'd take a break from the well for a little while (mostly because it's still a work in progress) to share some other things I've been working on. The next part of the well is the roof, which I'll get to later next week.

For a long time, I thought I wasn't going to wear a veil on my wedding day. I hated the idea of one somewhat, but mostly I just didn't like the way they looked. It felt confining and silly to try and hide my face from S. while I walked up the aisle. Plus, a natural klutz, I was sure not being able to see clearly and having something hanging down in front of my face would just bug the heck out of me.

Well, this was before I knew that the covering-your-face part was optional. Thanks, Weddingbee! Then I started to see pictures like this:



Source

And this:



Source

And I decided they weren't so bad after all. In fact, I really rather liked them. Especially mantilla, and cathedral-length.

A mantilla veil unfortunately just really isn't my style. Also, it's a little beyond my capabilities as a sewer. See, this was another DIY project-- the other big reason not to get a veil was price. To me, paying between $150-$250 for a piece of tulle was just outrageous. Especially when I covertly studied a few samples in the store and came to the conclusion that making one couldn't be very difficult, if one didn't particularly care about binding the edges (I don't), or a blusher/face covering section (I definitely don't). So I looked up "how to make your own veil" and several results popped up that came together to be-- how I made my own veil.

So cathedral it was. I went to JoAnn's and found a super-fine tulle for about $3/ yard. They had both white and ivory, and since my dress is "soft white" but just looks white, I got white. I bought 10 feet, to be safe. This should be plenty no matter how tall you are, depending on how long you want the veil behind you (just to clarify, again, this is for a cathedral veil). I'm 5'6", and the veil is too long on me, but I'll have to wait til I have my shoes and dress on at the same time to determine exactly where to cut it to.

I also went to Michael's and bought a pack of 4" clear plastic combs from the bridal section for about $2.00. I had a leftover strip of a beaded edging from making my garter that I also grabbed to disguise the edges of the tulle on the comb.

So, here's the supply list:

-10 feet of bridal tulle in white or ivory
-4" or longer clear plastic hair piece comb
-Needle and white thread
-Glue (any kind, but the less runny, the better)
-5" piece of narrow decorative lace or other
-A glass of the white zin of your choice and a movie. My selection was "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs".

Thread your needle. I left mine "open"-- the trailing end was still attached to the spool, so I could use as much thread as I needed. If you cut yours, you'll need maybe two feet or so, but you'll only really use seven or eight inches. Give yourself room to work, though.

Open up your tulle so that the shorter edge of the material on one end is completely flat. I just folded the whole thing up in my lap and let some of it drape down the couch and onto the floor. Beware though, if you have small/annoying/adorable/nosy cats like I do, you may want to lock them up so they don't play in and then subsequently rip up your tulle.

Find the corner. You're going to sew a running stitch across the narrow end of the tulle, so that it will gather together to fit on the comb. My running stitches were pretty big-- about an inch wide. They don't need to be very small. (Sorry for the blurry pics on some of these). You can't really tell much from this one, but this is about a third of the way through.


Once I running-stitched the whole edge, I went ahead and snipped my thread off the spool and tied a knot in the end. Because this tulle is so fine, the knot didn't have to be very big to stop it from pulling through. Once it was secure, I pulled the tulle down the thread to gather it and cut off and tied a knot in the other end at the right length of gather (hold your comb up to the tulle to get an idea of how long the gather needs to be).

The gathering:


Final length:


With the comb to check the length:


I attached mine with the tulle going next to the upper part of the comb. (If you're looking at the edge, the tulle goes on the top of the comb when it curves towards the ceiling). I re-knotted the leftover thread on my needle (you'll need at least a few feet for this part so you may want to re-thread if you cut your thread the first time) and started sewing the tulle onto the comb. I just did an over-under stitch around the base of the comb and between the teeth. I sewed pretty close to the edge of the tulle, as it won't unravel, and it came out pretty even.


You can stop sewing here, or choose to embellish the comb a little to hide the rough edges of the tulle. Note-- the top edge of the comb will be hidden when the veil is on your head as it will be flipped over to go behind you, so you do not *need* to embellish. I chose to anyway.

I had a leftover piece of pearled edging from my garter that I cut into a 4.5"-5" inch strip, folding the edges under to leave the sides smoother, and tacked it into the comb and tulle in the same way.


To secure everything, I glued the thread and stitching down on the underside of the comb just to make sure I don't have any accidental unravels on my big day. Then I let it hang off of the bar in my (separate from S.'s) closet to dry.

Once my dress comes in, I'll post the final part of the veil-- cutting it to size and rounding the end, maybe adding some crystals or pearls throughout, and then pictures of me in it.

Learn From My Mistakes:
I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I didn't really have any "whoopsie" moments with this one.

Variations:
-If you want an edging of some sort, you'll need to figure out the final length, cut it to that, and sew on the edging before sewing it to the comb.
-Add crystals or beads scattered throughout if desired.

The Wishing Well, Part II-- The Bucket

[Insert lolrus jokes here]

This, too, was pretty easy, though somewhat time consuming as I had to hold it all together while it dried. I suggest putting on a movie and having everything you might need for an hour within reach. Or a nearby friend (or fiance) who can take over if you suddenly have to pee.

Supplies:
-Small wooden circles, about 3/4"-1" in diameter, or other depending on the size of your well. I got mine at JoAnn's, I'm sure Michael's or similar carries them as well, in the Small Wooden Things section.
-Sticks of balsa about 1/4" by 1/8", but really any rectangular cut of a soft wood would work.
-Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky craft glue. This stuff seriously made a HUGE difference in the amount of time I had to sit there and hold this together.
-Hobby knife and cutting mat
-Craft wire
-Pliers

First I took three of the wooden circles and glued them together into a little sandwich/burger/Oreo/ however you want to think of it. Not all of these were the exact same size, so when I wound up with two slightly larger ones and one slightly smaller one, I put the smaller one in the middle so the pieces of balsa wouldn't taper towards the top. These are the ones I used, you can see they are 1" in diameter.


While they dried, I took some of the craft wire and twisted it into a circle about the size of the wooden circles, but a little smaller-- so it would lie just around the outer edge. I twisted the ends around each other. Then, I took another small piece (about two inches long) and wrapped one end around the wire circle and bent it shut with my pliers, then did the same with the other end on the opposite side of the wire circle, and bent up the middle to make a handle for my bucket. I didn't take any pictures of this part because I needed eighty hands, but you'll see it in a minute.



I also began to cut up my balsa pieces into 1 1/4" strips. I tried to get the ends as even and flat as possible, but the unevenness of a few of them adds character to my bucket. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself.


Here you can see me holding the bucket about halfway through. This is why I used three wooden circles for the middle instead of one-- it made it WAY easier for the outer pieces to stay upright-- without the extra support, they wanted to sag all over the place. About halfway through, I also glued the wire circle in with the handle upright.

I kept gluing the sticks in place until I wound up with this:


Ta-da! A little tiny bucket. We loveses it, precious. . .

*Ahem*. I mean, it's cute. Yeah. (You'll notice I have a thing for mini and cute).

Notes: Once the outer planks were all in place, I glued the rest of the metal wire down, but then had to sit and hold the whole thing while it dried because the handle kept slipping down into the bucket and if I just let it, it would have dried crooked (and bugged me to no end), so I definitely recommend having some free time.

Learn from my mistakes:

-Give yourself plenty of time to let the glue dry between pieces of wood. Use a Fast Grab glue or similar to cut down on this time.

Variations:

-Well, there are plenty of variations. The main one I can think of is putting some wire around the outside once the whole thing has completely dried. A ring of wire on top and on bottom, twisted to put a little pressure on the balsa, would give it that authentic, strapped bucket look. I may still do this to mine. But, you will still need the internal metal ring for support and to attach the handle to.

The Wishing Well, Part I

This is kind of a long project, but so far it's been relatively simple, and we'll call it a labor of love. I was wandering around the blog-o-sphere a few weeks ago (still swathed in my Newborn Bride clothes) when I started seeing references to creative guest books at weddings. I'd seen the more traditional kind, as well as the ever-delightful signable picture mat kind, in person. At first, I was content to just do the signable picture mat. But then, as is wont to happen when you're me, I got an idea.

What better, cuter place to have guests write up their well-wishes and thoughts than... a wishing well?

A quick internet search revealed that if I wanted a well that matched my vision for the wedding, I was going to have to build it myself. There's this lovely beauty on Amazon, but it's four feet tall!


Source

A lot of similar results popped up. Also, some small, cheap-looking miniature versions that were a.) too small, and b.) totally wrong. It's okay though, because I love a challenge, and when I explained to S. what I was thinking for making my own, he was all for it.

So, a trip to Michael's and Home Depot later, I had this at home:


Supplies: A trash bag so you don't ruin your work surface, a bag of small river rock pebbles (you can use whatever type of rocks you prefer, but that's what I used for mine), a tub of air-dry clay, wooden dowels (not yet pictured, I used 1/4") black and brown craft paint (I used acrylic), paint brushes, and a 5" PVC piping thingamajig-I'm-so-sorry-I-don't-actually-know-what-it's-called. Found it in the PVC section of Home Depot, it's a connector of some sort and black, with a thin band running around the inside (this actually becomes important later). You'll also need saran wrap and a rolling pin (not pictured til later), and a lazy susan (optional).


I also got a small dish and mixed together some black and brown paint and a few tablespoons of water (with one of my handy dandy wooden dowels, now pictured) to create a wash. You may want to wait to do this or cover it with some saran wrap so it doesn't dry out and thicken up while you're working.


I covered my rolling pin in saran wrap since it is primarily used for food, not crafting. I tore a chunk of clay out of the bucket and kneaded it to warm it up.



I rolled the clay out til it was approximately big enough to cover the outside of the black plumbing dealy. It was about 1/4 - 1/3" thick at this point.


I rolled it over and painted the ends with water so they would adhere to each other better (this is a super-duper secret of clay-- be sure to do this every step where we're joining pieces to together).


Then I rolled the pipe dealy around on the table to sort of smush the ends down, kind of like another rolling pin action. I didn't take as much time with this as I should have and it came back to haunt me later in the form of over-lumpy areas. Don't do this too much or you'll expand the clay and have to smush it back down anyway, but try to even out the lumpier areas if you can. Don't worry about leaving finger indents, either.


I tucked the edges in all the way around.


And using extra bits of clay and some brushed-on water, filled in the open spots, mushing it all together really good with my fingers.


I began to brush the well with my wash. I wish I'd done on the outside what I'd done on the inside-- dabbed instead of stroked. It looked much more natural and "stony" on the inside than the out, which is actually okay since the inside wasn't covered and will be visible.



You can see the differences between the two here.


I inserted the dowels directly across from each other into the top of the well, pushing down along the inside wall until I hit the lip across the middle. This lip is a good thing as it will support the dowels from sinking under the weight of the roof in the future. I then mushed the clay around them after standing them as straight as I wanted them, to hold them in place. You will have to adjust these periodically while your well dries. I also re-painted the areas that I had just smashed with my fingers as most of the paint got worked into the clay.

At this point, I un-taped my trash bag from the table and lifted the whole thing onto a lazy susan so I could turn it while I worked. I cut the trash bag into a circle.


Then I began to cover it in the small river rock pebbles I had bought at Michael's. I only bought one bag, and this was plenty, though I only covered the outside and top of the well. If you were going to cover the whole thing, you might need two. I wish I had spaced the stones closer together to start with. I discovered about 1/3 of the way through that if you pushed the next stone down right onto the edge of a stone already in the clay, it would situate itself just about the perfect distance away. Be sure to push them in firmly, but not so firmly you bury them.


Et voila! Pretty cute, huh? This only took me about an hour. Well, so far. Next up-- making the bucket!

Tips To Learn From My Mistakes:
-Make sure you take the time to evenly coat the pipe dealy in the clay so you don't wind up with lumpy areas.
-Dab the paint wash on instead of brushing it.
-To get a more "even" and natural looking coverage of the rocks, push them in directly next to each other.

I did this about a week ago, and it's still drying. However, it's been pretty rainy and muggy here since. I don't recommend this as a project to do a couple weeks before your wedding. Give it a few to dry, at least.

All photos unless otherwise noted are personal photos.

The Proposal

So we found the stone for my ring on Thursday. I knew he hadn't asked for my mom's blessing yet as his attempt to do so when we last saw her that Tuesday had failed. I kind of expected him to propose Thursday anyway, but that night came and went, and nothing. Earlier that day, while we were at lunch, we had figured out that Saturday would mark two years to the day since we'd met.

He did, however, say that maybe on Saturday we should go look at venues. We'd been tossing around 10-10-10 as a wedding date half-seriously (and then more seriously) for a while, and he said that if we were serious we should probably start looking.

This probably should have thrown up a red flag, but we'd been sort of planning since we found the ring (I was unable to resist!) and I just thought hey, he's finally getting into this.

So he had me put together a list, and suggested we maybe bring the camera and tripod along so we could take pictures of ourselves at each place to help us decide later.

Friday, we randomly found out that the college where we'd met had a garden on-site that could be rented as a venue. We added that to our list. The college is right near where I board my horse, so I requested we go there last so maybe we could go see her afterward.

Saturday morning came, and I again should have noticed something was up. He was REALLY fumbly when we left the house. He forgot to lock the front door, then tried to take the house key off of the key ring instead of taking all the keys out of the car ignition. Then he tried to lock our interior door instead of the security door. But I assumed if he was going to do it, he would have done it at Balboa Park, one of our favorite spots in all of San Diego. We spend most of the morning there, as there are venues scattered all over the park, then went north to a couple other ones, hiking up and down some hills near the local Presidio. Every spot, he'd set up the tripod and camera and have me stand in to set up the shot, then come running over as the timer clicked off to take a picture. Proposal wise, nothing. I assumed at that point that it just wasn't going to happen that day.

We stopped at one other park on our way over to the college-- that one was a definite no-- and then went to get some lunch, at McDonald's of all places.

Then we headed over to the college. We decided to start in the horticulture area, as that had a pretty little plants-for-sale area, and an arch that I vaguely remembered. We found the arch, and he had me stand in front of it to set up the shot. He kept fumbling around, and finally I snapped at him to hurry up because I had to pee. He told me, "Well, go pee then!" Luckily, the bathrooms were open. I went and came back, and he set up the shot again, and then asked if I was ready. I nodded, and watched as pushed the button and came walking over this time, instead of running. As he walked, he started out with something about how two years ago we'd met here. And that he loved me. And would I be his wife.

Then he got down on one knee and pulled the ring out of his pocket, where he'd wrapped it in a paper towel so I wouldn't see the huge box bulge, and I remembered to say yes, and tried to grab it from him to put it on myself. I gave it back and had him put it on. He tried to put it on the wrong hand. Finally, we had it figured out and then proceeded to make out for like five minutes. When I could breathe again (I was laugh-crying-- what the heck is that?) he told me that he'd gotten the whole thing on video!

He then proceeded to take a picture of us under the same arch anyway, only this time I look like I'm attacking him, haha.




After the proposal, we went and walked through the garden we'd really come here to see. They had a GORGEOUS gazebo. We were sold-- we met there, we got engaged there, and on 10-10-10 we'll be married there!

Oh; and just so you don't think I forgot, here's a picture of the ring, too! ~2 ct. cushion cut aquamarine set with round and baguette diamonds down the side in platinum.

The Ring Part II

When I last left off, we'd found my ring in the place where we'd least expected it. It was missing the center stone, though.

Luckily, Zales was having a "gem fair" in a few weeks that would include an on-site jeweler. If we came back then, we could find a stone and have it set the same day (instead of them having to send it away to be set). Though it would probably be more expensive, it would also be warrantied for life. We decided to go ahead and do this.

The gem fair was on a Thursday, so S. took a long lunch and I took the afternoon off of work to go in. I got there first and tried to contain myself outside the jewelry store. S. had insisted on bringing the ring himself, which involved him showing it off to everyone in his office beforehand.

We went in, and despite several phone conversations during which we had specifically mentioned a price range of not over $X, and that we wanted an aquamarine, they proceeded at first to tell us they had no aquamarine. Then, they magically found and decided to show us two aquamarines that, while gorgeous, were $1800 and $1500 dollars. Finally, I let go of the "we're really disappointed, took time off of work to be here, explained what we wanted a million times," speech that I'd been holding in, seething, for about 20 minutes. They cut through the rest of whatever they were going to try next and went straight to their cases, took out a couple of other pieces that had aquamarines in them in the general size and shape we wanted and this time, the price was much more reasonable. So I picked the one I wanted, and the jeweler got to work while we went and ate lunch.

When the ring was done, the store manager walked it over to us, and I had to turn away super fast. Part of the deal was that I would not see the final product until S. proposed. Of course, all three (him, the manager, and the salesman that had helped us buy the ring originally) therefore proceeded to oooh and ahhh over it. And of course, he then re-showed the finished ring to everyone at his work again later that afternoon. Phooey.

And it was done! Thus began my long, long crawl through the desert of impatience until he proposed.

Next week, on Hitched 10-10-10: he pops the question in a totally sneaky (and really, really awesome) way!

The Ring Part I

Yesterday, I shared the story of how we met and started dating. Put on your Time Caps and jump forward nearly two years to October of 2009. We're eating dinner at a buffet, and S. grabs my right hand to gaze at the sapphire ring I've been wearing there since the Christmas before we met (a gift from my mother).

I freeze and try to keep my jaw from hitting the floor as he casually mentions that maybe after Christmas, we should start looking at rings.

For the rest of October, November, and December, I try not to wait for Christmas to pass so we can go ring shopping. I drop occasional girly hints to make sure he still means it and didn't forget. For us, this involves me attempting to veer into every jewelry store we pass on trips to the mall, and him grabbing me by the back of my shirt so I can't, reminding me we'd look after Christmas. This is also me testing his patience, probably. Okay, definitely. I'm a brat. He knows this. He still sticks around. We are made for each other.

Christmas comes and goes. So does New Year's Eve. Then, New Year's Day, he suggests we go look at rings. We've already hashed out what kind of ring we're looking for-- gemstone middle stone (aquamarine) with gemstone baguettes down the sides. White gold, because while I dearly love platinum, it was simply out of our price range. We think/know it will be a custom job and don't really want to buy from one of "those" mall jewelers, anyway. So we gear up for a big long day of shoppin' and drive around to private jeweler after private jeweler, haggling, negotiating, explaining ourselves to death and finally settling on the custom-designed ring of my dreams. Hurray! That was easy!

Not. By some cruel twist of fate (what, like you need holidays off, people?!?) they are ALL closed. Every. Single. One.

I... I should just get this out there now. I am not a patient person. I'm about ready to tear my hair out at this point. S. knows this and graciously suggests, hey, why don't we go look at "those" mall jewelers anyway, tonight? Just to do research.

Research. Okay. Tonight. Even better. I can handle this. I can get my fix and be patient again.

So we go the mall. There's one near us that has at least 11 jewelers. We visit each one, tirelessly explaining-- but never finding-- what we want. At long last, we reach Zales'. It was the 9th or so stop, so very nearly the last one. We again explain what we want, but without any luck, again. However, the salesman says as we're about to leave, I should just show you this to see if you're interested. He pulls out a beautiful setting; missing the center stone, but it has tiny round and baguette diamonds down the sides. It's platinum. It's 80% off.

!!!

I'm not supposed to know how much S. is spending on my ring, I know, but this whole shopping-together thing made it rather hard to not know.

Anyway, S. tries to keep me calm. I try to keep myself calm. We're not here to find my ring, I remind myself. It's a mall jeweler, I remind myself. It's the perfect ring, I remind myself. Wait, no, that wasn't a reminder. That just kept slipping in.

S. insists we go to the last two stores before we make a decision, and I convince the salesman to hold it for us until the next day. We go to the other stores, stare at the beautiful sparkly things they have to offer, but nothing else compares. In my mind, we've already found The One. And the ring, too. (Ha! See what I did there?)

So, when we're done, we go back and buy it.

Next up: the hunt for the perfect center stone begins. And ends. And I don't get to see my pretty completely finished til he proposes! ... three days later.

Some Background, Part II

Read Part I here.

So, on V-Day I went and had my Anti-Valentine's Day party with a (former) good girlfriend. Except-- she invited a guy. My longtime friend and her then-current love interest. They started dating that night.

At any rate, it was okay, because S. and I were not far behind. Shortly after V-Day, we hung out again, went on a real date, watched movies at his place and found excuses to be close to each other. That evolved into kissing, and then we were just kind of together. One Saturday night, we were hanging out at his place, talking and trying to avoid saying goodbye to each other, and we had the conversation about Us. We weren't "official" yet, but certainly acted like it. I was relieved when the conversation happened.

In order to get the reference, first you must read XKCD. This web-comic is one that S. turned me onto in our very first days of dating, and we both still read it every time it updates. This comic was one he'd pointed out to me before, and on this night, it was only appropriate that it come into our lives as a couple, and make itself known. Thus was born the tone for our whole relationship-- loving, with a twist of sarcasm and irony, and a general good sense of humor about it all.

Yep, he asked if we were a couple now, and I responded, "Will you be my 'In a Relationship' on MySpace?" (At the time, lamer that I was, I did not have a Facebook).

Of course he said yes. And the rest is history. Well, ourstory.

Stay tuned for the story of the The Ring.

Some Background, Part I

S. and I met at our local community college. He rescued me, though he rode up on a Kawasaki Ninja, not a white charger. (It's okay. I prefer my black bay quarter horse anyway).

To be fair, all he rescued me from was the other guy sitting next to me in the computer lab the first night of class. See, I had recently seized my independence from relationships (that's always the way it goes, isn't it?) and had sworn off dating. So I had the brilliant idea to take a beginning automotive repair class at the community college. What better place to not meet men than a class filled with them?

I'm SO glad I did. And so glad the Universe saw fit to push S. in the same direction.

It was technically the second night of class. Two different teachers, two different nights. One lecture, one lab in the college's shop. This was the first night of the lab class, and we had a safety test to take.

I went all the way to the back of the computer lab and sat down. A guy I'll call B. came and sat down on my right. He started talking in a drawl about the two lifted Broncos he had, and was so proud to have because they'd make his dead pig hauling business so much easier.

Yes, you read that right. Dead pig hauling business. Luckily, it was right about then that a handsome redhead strolled in and took the seat immediately to my left, and I spent the rest of the night talking to him instead.

He seemed gruff, is all I remember of those first few days. But he kept talking to me. And letting me follow him around and bug him. Eventually, we started staying out really late in the school parking lot talking. Like, campus security kicking us out late. Still, I was in denial that I liked him. I did, but I didn't want to admit it. I was fierce! I was independent! I was... falling for him.

Then came The Night. Let me set the scene:

Valentine's Day Eve, 2008. It was raining. It was dark. It was cold. S. asked me if I wanted to go somewhere off campus to hang out for a bit. We headed to a local mountain that's famous for its views. We talked about the next day, I said I was going to hang out with my girlfriends at our (sadly, only happened this once) annual Anti-Valentine's Day party. I told him I didn't like flowers. I told him I didn't like Valentine's Day. Ha. I don't know what I was thinking, but I do remember feeling a little bad that I had other plans. I so desperately wanted him to ask me to do something with him instead. Later on, he told me that he nearly did.

Stay tuned for Part II, in which I ask him to be my "In A Relationship" on MySpace.