Feb 17th 2012

one year

This weekend is our one year anniversary. It seems like our wedding was not so long ago, but it also feels like so much has happened this year. I don’t think I’m ready to give up the title of newlyweds. Everything is still pretty magical.

I can’t wait to see what the next year has is store and the many years after that too.

If you never saw our wedding at the natural history museum, you can see it here, here and here.

Happy long weekend to everyone.

» adventure

Dec 2nd 2011

finished wedding quilt

Finally I finished our wedding quilt. Once the sewing started it came together fairly easily. I found some lovely fabric for the borders and backing that I just love. Everything was going swimmingly until I got to the binding. Holy hell that took forever. There must be a more efficient way to sew the binding but as it was all by hand it cost me several hours in front of the tv. Not that I mind, but time is precious commodity at the moment.

In making this quilt I truly fell for quilting (as if I need another craft to love). I think I was done in when I went to a quilting store to get the remaining fabric for the border and backing. There were so many modern, beautiful, printed fabrics; I was smitten. I hope I can find time to make quilts in my future as It’s so nice to make something that feels like it has a use and will last for ages. That being said, I’m not sure what to do with this quilt as I’d like to preserve it with all the messages from our wedding guests. Ideas? I’m thinking it might look nice hung on the wall if i could find the space.

» handmade

Jun 13th 2011

wedding quilt in progress

I finally made some progress on our wedding quilt. Instead of a guestbook, we had our guests sign squares of fabric to be sewn together. While I am still very happy with this idea (I’d much rather have a quilt than a guestbook) it probably would have helped if I’d ever made a quilt before. Ever.

Not that it’s going badly, but it started out a bit rough. Mainly because a handful of squares, cut a the last moment before the wedding, were not only different sizes, they were not even really square. On top of that, without any guidelines for signing, some guest wrote all the way to the very edges of the fabric, leaving no seam allowance at all.

After arranging the swatches into their pattern, I traced new square guides onto each piece, so I would have a uniform size while trying not to cut off bits of what people wrote. I then basted each strip together and got to sewing, first making vertical strips and then sewing those together.

I knew from the beginning it would not be perfect, and I’m quite happy with how it’s coming along. Next I plan to put some edging fabric so its a bit larger and then I’ll have to choose a backing. I’m not sure how I’ll stitch the front to the back, since I don’t want to detract from the writing.

Any ideas from seasoned quilters out there? Actually an suggestions would be helpful really.

» handmade

May 9th 2011

the wedding: part 2

This is the end of the wedding posts, with more photos than ever. While I’ve kept quiet for what I’ve shared before, I have a bit to say this time around. Mostly though, there are tons and tons of photos.

When we first started planning our wedding, looking for locations, choosing vendors, we found ourselves coming up against all these restrictions. In particular with venues, there were a lot of rules: from which caterer you could use, to how loud you could play music. One would think at a public institution such as The Natural History Museum, which really only does weddings on the side, there would be a great deal of restrictions, especially considering the historical artifacts they have throughout. Instead, they were the most open of any place we contacted. We were allowed to roam the museum, nearly all night. This completely shaped our wedding, as we were surrounded by history and our guests were transported out of Los Angeles into another world.

We encouraged our guests to wear vintage attire and many not only obliged, but were enthusiastic. We didn’t specify a particular time period which gave us a range of styles. It was so great to see what everyone came up with. It was as if all the ages of guests to the museum from times passed we converging again.

The one aspect of the wedding that we did not plan at all were the decorations and flowers. The whole time we imagined that the museum would be such a stunning backdrop that the details like centerpieces could be simple and still work. So we didn’t put too much thought into it. Or should I say, any thought.

About a month before the wedding, when we realized that we would actually have to come up with something, we turned to our friend Suki. We knew her from the events she had put together for The Cinefamily and as she had recently started her own event company, we thought she would be a perfect match to not only make our wedding run smoothly, but also to design a good deal of the decor.

Suki and her co-conspirator, Patsy, were able to take the minimal direction we gave them (moss & glass jars) and come up with stunning designs and arrangement. They were even able to incorporate the various pieces we had come up with along the way.

Instead of a typical guestbook, I wanted to make a quilt out of the fabric signed by our guests. I found a selection of bird themed fabrics and the ladies from the happening were able to reflect this by incorporating little nests into the decor.

Being that we live in Los Angeles, one of the most vegan friendly cities in the country, one would think finding a vegan caterer would be easy. For a number of reasons, it became the most complicated part of our planning. Luckily we found Jennie Cook, who was amazingly helpful all around and made amazing food for us. These beanie pops were delightful.

We were really happy to be able to include so many children at our wedding as we imagined they would be able to explore the museum with their families…and just look adorable.

Do you remember those stuffed animals I made? They were much loved by our guests, which made me endlessly happy.

The reception was held in the recently restored rotunda, a beautiful room from the original museum, made almost entirely of marble. (You should definitely click on that photo to see it in all of it’s glory.)

Oh and it is a tragedy that I don’t have more photos of food. We had the most amazing tomato soup. So good that it may have been a figment of my imagination. There were vegan sliders, fantastic cashew cream potatoes and a special fig and rice celebration roast from Field Roast. I ate all of these things. We took leftovers home. It was wonderful.

Kyle gave an epic speech from the mezzanine of the rotunda.

There were touching speeches and long speeches made by our dear friends.

…epically long speeches.

All those cakes I slaved over were devoured.

There was dancing.

It was glorious.

And things got a little crazy, but that’s for another day.