I, scavenger

photo credit

I've been outside a lot lately. And I've learned many things -- firstly, that I'm better at applying sunscreen than bug spray. Secondly, that the jury's still out regarding my ability to keep outdoorsy-plants amongst the living.

Allow me to explain: I have a unique ability to kill houseplants. It's extreme -- so much so, that I've used it as an excuse when people ask me why I don't have children. It's a talent that I believe I inherited from my mom (and in direct contrast to both of our talents when it comes to furry, four-legged types, I hasten to add.) I know that as I child I saw her dehydrate a cactus, and she may have supervised the expiration of a silk plant or two. And I am definitely her daughter when it comes to matters botanical. If ficuses had post offices, my picture would be on posters there.

But: I've heard that these things are easier out-of-doors. Or "easier", at any rate. As one might expect, I'm a bit hesitant to dive right into an expensive landscaping scheme before I properly evaluate my own planticidal tendencies ... which has led me to the greatest source of free-except-for-the-hassle-factor greenery on the planet: Craigslist.

The upside: we won't be out more than gas money if stuff dies. (Okay, fine: "if".) The downside: my strategy is at the mercy of what's being offered, an how well eHow.com advises me on not killing it. So we're sort of building ourselves the Garden of Misfit Toys. But I believe in my little freak plants. Even the ones that insist on looking a bit like they need some caffeine & a plant brassiere (you know -- for the drooping).

Pictures tomorrow -- it was too dark tonight, by the time I'd finished today's transplant. Dr. Frankenstein has nothing on my yard.

tile story

I alluded to Tile I no longer want in yesterday's post ... allow me to explain: I started off thinking that we "had" to have glass tiles in the shower, preferably in the subway style pictured here:
And then we started pricing the stuff. The cheapest we could find it in a color we like (similar to the above pic, actually) was $17/square foot. Yikes! So in a dazzling display of design flexibility, we've changed course: we're keeping the shape, but changing the color & material. Ceramic tile in matte white (for some reason I'm really digging the non-shiny finish) like this:

image source

only costs $4.50/square foot**. Much better.

I had the idea to get penny tiles for the flooring, which will now be non-white, so as to avoid making the bathroom resemble a surgical theater, like these:

image source

which we found for a very agreeable $8/square foot. And then the Mr. got totally excited about a river-rock style for the shower floor, like this:

image source

except in a charcoal-y black shade that I couldn't find a picture of. And they feel pretty sweet under foot. Plus, they're almost exactly the same price as the other floor tiles, so it looks like we're going for it.

Once we can reassemble the walls & floors, and therefore get accurate measurements, that is. Is there drama around that? Funny you should ask ... more to come.


**(All the prices I've quoted are from United Tile in L.A. -- no website (again!), but you can find them here. They have everything, and they're really reasonable.)

cost breakdown: candy buffet

One of the biggest "non-practical" elements of our wedding was our candy buffet. (It's also one of the only things featured in wedding magazines that I fell in love with. What can I say? I'm not completely impervious to pretty pictures.) I'm sure that we could have come up with a less expensive cost-per-guest party favor, but I figured that people had earned their sugar comas after all the dancing at our reception!

We had 9 different containers in our buffet: 3 apothecary jars & 2 decorative plates, all snagged at Ross. (I started looking very early in our planning process, in order to take advantage of post-Christmas sales. I basically grabbed anything white or metallic I could get my hands on.) I got creative when I found 2 big mercury class candle holders at Target (I just covered the pointy thing in the bottom with tissue paper), and I made a cake stand from a tutorial on OnceWed.com. At the last minute, I found a giant clear-glass vase that I already owned -- score!

Total: $69.18



For the candy, I realized pretty quickly that while lots of websites out there offer "discount bulk candy", the overnight shipping required to get it to Southern California in the summer, hopefully without melting, was a potential budget-buster. I got as much of it as I could at a local warehouse in downtown L.A.

10 lbs. each grapefruit sour gummies, butterscotch & Hershey's kisses = $68.88.

I got the rest from 2 online resources, and went for the 2-day shipping in protective packaging (still cheaper than overnighting it) just before temps soared for the summer.

10 lbs. each 7-up jelly bellies & white jordan almonds from bulkfoods.com = $99.56 + approx. $60 shipping.
10 lbs. "milkies" (like M&M's, but without the "M" so cheaper) & 5 lbs. champagne bubbles from Groovy Candies = $115.85 + approx. $40 shipping.

I also got 5 lbs. of white mints from Smart & Final for about $10. And somehow I got it into my head that I'd have a) the time, and b) the skill to make a thing or two. Yeah, I know ... overly ambitious = me. Fortunately, after my test run turned out poorly, I found these at Target:

White Oreos! Who knew?! (I didn't.) About $10 for 3 bags.

I made the signs for each container with leftover cardstock from our invitations -- printed at Kinko's -- and attached it with ribbon I found on sale. Instead of buying pricey labels from some online site, I printed some using Word on my home computer:

They seemed to get what I wanted to say across ... and I already had those labels, so they were free.

We decorated the table with the leftover bubble liquid bottles from our ceremony, and some matchbook notebooks that I made. I used the cardstock samples I'd bought when looking for our invitation paper, plus stamps that were in the set used on our invitations & plain computer paper. The upside to doing things yourself = re-purposing your leftovers!


I found the big scoops at a local party supply store (about $10) & decorated them with the same ribbon as on the container signs, and got the bags through a wholesale company. (I ended up with twice the amount I needed, so after selling the extras on Craigslist, they cost a net $13.)

Altogether, the candy buffet cost us about $545. Admittedly, it was kind of an extravagance, and I might have changed my mind if I'd known about the extra $100 in shipping charges from the beginning ... but it turned out beautifully, our guests loved it, and I was really proud of myself for pulling it off. So if anyone out there is planning something similar, I hope you find this useful!

more almost-free stuff!

One of the goodies that came with being picked as a couple for a Minted.com design challenge was a $250 credit toward any of the beautiful paper things on their site. The obvious choice (meaning something they have that we need): thank you cards!


I love these -- they're the perfect colors (sage green, white, slate) and the flowers look a lot like these:

I love it when things look like I planned them. It makes me feel smarter.

Now I just need them to hurry up & get here -- because "stuff" has started to arrive! The wedding fort* is acquiring a second wing.

*I didn't come up with that phrase. Elizabeth did. But I wish I had.

perhaps I was overly ambitious: part 3

cost breakdown of invitations

I fear that these ended up costing more than I thought they would -- if I could even remember what I thought these things "should" cost, when I first got on this crazy ride. Ah, my long-lost naivete .... Nonetheless, I'm thrilled with how they turned out, and pretty amazed with what I was able to make happen within our budget. These figures are for a guest list of approximately 110 people.

cardstock in 2 colors: $81.00
printing: $58.01
envelopes: $25.00
envelope liners: $ 0.87
labels for addresses: $12.98
postage: $70.40
decorative stamping: $25.88
raffia ribbon: $4.20
glue sticks & dots: $7.29

total: $285.63
cost per piece: $2.10

I decided to go with cost per piece due to the one-page & two-page variations of our invitations. The vast majority of them are one-page, since we're able to include everyone at the informal party in Los Angeles. I suppose I could've figured out what percentage of the total were 1- or 2-pagers, and gotten a precise average cost per invitation ... but frankly, that's more math than I care to do.

Some of the things that helped me keep costs down:

* I found the envelopes on Craigslist -- someone had leftovers in the exact color, size & amount I needed.
* I quickly realized that it was cheaper to get cardstock from the manufacturer, even with shipping, rather than buy it 1 piece at a time whenever Michael's had it in stock ... not to mention the gas & time I saved.
* I lined our envelopes with a roll of wrapping paper on clearance from Target and leftover wallpaper I already owned.
* Rather than pay for a liner template I doubt I'd use again, I made my own.
* I bought a pack of full-sheet labels from Office Depot and cut them into wrap-around address labels.
* I taught myself how to use Photoshop, which allowed me to design our invitations, address labels & save-the-dates. It took some time, but I got exactly what I wanted, and there was no charge for proofs when I took my ideas to Mr. UB.
* We emailed our save-the-dates, which saved paper, printing & postage for that.
* All the invitations include our website, where people can email RSVPs -- again, no paper, printing or postage.

I don't suggest that my methods here are the best idea for everyone out there. It certainly helped that I had tons of free time this spring, as the acting biz was slow. I may not have been able or motivated to invest as much of my time as this took if I'd been busier. (Then again, if I'd been busier I probably could've afforded to out-source it.) Besides, I really enjoyed "the thrill of the chase" -- being on a mission that had me swinging by the gift wrap aisle of Target when I was just there for paper towels, or hunting down the company that made our cardstock (which was far more difficult than it should've been in 2009.)

Ultimately, it comes down to this: I'm stubborn. I have very particular taste, and I'm loathe to trust my vision to other people when I have the time & ability to do it myself. But I'm also very proud of myself -- so there.

weekend round-up

It was quite the busy weekend here at Camp Un-Bride. I didn't get any posting done because my work schedule is such that I'm busiest on Saturday & Sunday ... so Monday is actually my day to get some rest. And on that note, "thanks" to whomever rang my phone at 8:30 this morning. But moving on ...

Early Sunday morning, I drug poor Mr. UB out to the Rose Bowl flea market in Pasadena. I'd told him a few days before that I planned to go, and asked if he wanted to join me. He agreed, under no duress whatsoever -- something I needed to remind him of more than once as I tried to coax, then harangue, then physically drag him out of bed before 8 a.m. He's lucky he's so cute when he's grouchy.

Anyway, we had pretty good luck. I found these, which I'll probably use to decorate the table around our cake: They're real crystal pieces from a chandelier. I can totally re-use these afterwards to make a cool light fixture. (You know, when we eventually figure out where we're going to live.) $5.

We also grabbed two pretty metal planters. I want to use one of them to hold the programs at our ceremony, but got 2 to use later ... again, in the Theoretical Home. Whatever -- they need some cleaning up, but a) I have time for such a project at the moment, and b) the color underneath all that rust (pale green) actually goes with our wedding stuff. (left side is partially cleaned; right side is how we found them)

He thought we should leave them all "rustic" looking. I maintained that "rustic" does NOT equal "rusty", and think they'll still have that cool weathered look even once I finish scrubbing off as much gunk as I can stand. The downside to being "right" about this = I can't make him do the scrubbing. Oh well -- my hands always look like hell, anyway. (It's all the rubbing alcohol from trying not to lose my grip on the pole. You know -- at work.)

We also found one Not Really For The Wedding, But Freakin' Awesome Anyway bargain: It's a Nambe serving bowl. I didn't know what these were until my friend Tolley showed me. They're made from an 8-metal alloy that holds temperature -- hot food stays hot & cold food stays cool. I did add two of them to our registry, even though they're pricey. Macy's has the exact same bowl here for $115. I have this one for $20. To repeat a phrase I've used previously: Booyah.

Today's (Monday's) errands led to another purchase that cost less than planned. I went to buy this pretty guest book that I spotted a while back on the Crane's website: ... only to discover that it's no longer available in this color. I failed to find it anywhere else on the 'net (CL, eBay, etc. -- all the usual suspects) so I decided to see if any of the local stores who carry Crane & Co. products still had one in stock. (Besides, shipping charges = my new Enemy #1.) I struck out in the first place I tried, so I ventured a little further afield to a store in Beverly Hills. And while they didn't have that particular book, which by the way was $39 + shipping, they did have this: The flash over-exposed the photo, but it's cream-colored linen with "Guests" embossed in a simple typewriter-style font. The spool of gray ribbon next to it is the one it came with. I switched in with some green ribbon that I already had. (It's lighter than it looks in this pic). Not only do I like this size(about 10" square) better than the teensy 8x6 books that are out there, mascarading as photo album-sized in their web photos, but check this: "Perfect Guest Book"? I'll say. The store in question is William Ernest Brown on Beverly Drive. The ladies who work there are wonderfully helpful and nice. I spotted (and forced myself to give wide berth to) a large notebook labelled "Cartier Wedding Stationary" on a desk, so if you're on the hunt for higher-end goods, this is your store.

I've been doing more online reading about our ceremony venue, the Palace of Fine Arts in S.F., hoping to find out what the diameter of the rotunda is. I'm trying to see how long of an aisle runner we should get -- since they're priced by length, I don't want one that's too long. Nor do I want one that will end up looking puny if it's too short.

I found the answer to my question (1,100 feet -- I guess we better get the long one) and I also found some amazing Palace-related info. First, there's this image from an ad for the Pan Pacific Exhibition:Thank goodness we didn't do hard-copy Save-The-Dates, because I'd be filled with regret that we didn't use this image on postcards. I'd love to find a way to work this into our programs, or some other element that we'll be making/using. But even more beautiful are the Novagems.

"What are Novagems?" you might ask. Well, if you rely on Google, you might think that they're related to something incredibly nerdy. In fact, I had to look through hundreds of entries that were variations on forums talking about "... so are Nova Gems for Star Captains only or can any1 get em?" to find these:



















"More than 100,000 Novagems graced the Tower of Jewels at the 1915 [Exhibition]. The gems' mirrored backs created an incredible light show when the Tower was illuminated. Smaller Novagems, like [these], were sold as souveniers." poster & quote source

Can you imagine? Because just in case you can't, check this: Click on the picture to see a larger image. Source here.

The Tower of Jewels wasn't one of the buildings that lasted beyond the end of the Exhibition -- all of its structures were intended to be temporary. The Palace itself survived only because the citizens of San Francisco organized to save it. Somehow I think this image would be just as beautiful if it hadn't been so ephemeral ... I wonder what else was lost before there was a camera phone in every pocket to document things?

Oh, and nobody's selling those babies on eBay. I checked.

ribbon palooza, etc.

I found an incredible deal on scoops & tongs for our candy buffet. $0.60 each. I went with big spoons instead of fancy candy scoops because I figure we'll actually have use for these in our kitchen. You know, in the several years of being married, after the big fancy party that lasts one day.

$1.70 each. All at Vine American Party Store.

With slightly more than $1 worth of cream ribbon (total, that is), they now look like this: Total cost: $10.30, and no shipping costs. The website for Vine American is pretty rudimentary, and you can't shop online. But if you're in L.A. and can stop by (and have time to dig) they've got some deals that beat craft stores. By a lot. (Also, no hot glue gun injury this time. I'm improving!)

Next up: supplies for our invitations arrived yesterday. (Side note: our UPS guy is really nice. I should really tell him why he's suddenly seeing me so often, and why there's slightly less room for me in my living room each time he stops by.)
They came with a very nice, unintentionally hilarious note from the person who tool our order. Hand-writted "Thank you!" and signature ... and just below it "*no returns ... no refunds" in the tiniest print. With an actual asterisk. Good thing I intend to keep it, I guess.

Here's what the paper stuff will look like when it's all put together: (The text will be printed on the cream-colored paper ... but in a burst of forethought I decided to run off my samples on plain stuff, until I got it right. And I now have the proper tool for getting the stamp aligned properly, too.) I have 2 options for tying the varying pieces together:


I think I prefer the second one, with just the raffia. Which is fine -- I've decided that I want to keep things as neutral as possible, overall (a reaction to the neckties, possibly?), and I'm sure I'll find another use for the green ribbon. Besides, it only cost $1/spool.

I did a little scrounging for something to put on the cufflink bases I bought on eBay, but came up empty. Then I remembered that Gem Faire is coming back to Santa Monica -- next week, even! Hooray for my flyer that showed up in the mail, complete with Free Entry Coupon. If you want to go, they have 2-for-1 entry coupons that you can print on their website. Or just see when it's travelling trade show goodness is coming closer to your area.

Lastly: some love for all things Google. I thought I'd have to buy some special kind of goo in order to clean the candle holders that I found on Craigslist, until I searched "candle wax removal." Turns out you can pop them in the freezer for a few hours, then basically pop the stuck, melted candle end right out. Yay, free solutions.

**Post-lastly: I just got off the phone with Mr. UB. He went out last night to meet some friends, and learned that someone who used to work at a restaurant with his roommate just started her own catering company. Without him even asking, she offered to cater our reception for cost. Excuse me -- I have to go dance around my living room now.

shopping goodness continues

I have to give props to A $10,000 Wedding for this one: the sale going on right now at Pier One. She tipped me off about it in her blog, and although I had to do some digging, I really did find some great stuff. So much that I went back the next day, when they weren't about to close which made me feel like I had to rush. (By the way, why is it that all the cra-zazies come out to shop just before a store closes? Those poor clerks. Maybe it was because I picked the Hollywood location, but still...) I got a few more of these -- there were already two in the bundle of candle goodness that I got off of Craigslist. Yes, I have something specific in mind for them. Or at least Ania The Coordinator does. Besides, they were $0.08 a piece. I have 12 now.

I also got 5 of these. They didn't match my decor ... ... but now they do. $0.28 each, plus paint I already had = about $1. Lastly, take a look at this:
It's a flower blossom candle holder, in crystal. It's beautiful, and it costs about $88 in the store on La Brea where I spotted it. I did not buy it. I bought this instead: It's a really crappy angle, and my floor is filthy (sorry) so allow me to explain. It's a double-layered star-shaped candle holder. In glass. On sale for $0.18 each. I bought 12. That's $2.16 if you're keeping score. (Which I am, believe me. Ask me about my Excel files. On second thought -- don't. Spare yourselves.)

I also spotted what might be a lovely paper to line our invite envelopes with. I can't get the picture off of my cell phone's online "album", so you'll just have to take my word for it -- it's very pretty. Pale cream with teal blue swirly lines. But I'm leaning heavily against spending $3.50 per piece of 20" x 30" paper. I think I can only get about 10 envelopes per page out of that. Too expensive. Where's all the pretty wrapping paper you can buy by the roll, dammit?! (Seriously, if you know please tell me.)

more shopping success

Mr. UB & I went to downtown L.A. yesterday, on our first joint shopping trip for wedding stuff. Our mission: groomsmen's ties. (You see why I thought he'd be interested in joining me. I swear I don't normally burden him with these things.) And I was surprised by how quickly we found success: I'm not totally crazy about the slightly irredescent thing going on, but he really thinks it's cool. And frankly, that's much more important to me than satisfying my admittedly hard-to-please asthetic sensibilities. Also, check out how nicely they match my shoes: Pretty damn good, I say. (I want the rest of the attire stuff for the ceremony to skew a little lighter now.) Best part: $5 each. For silk. AND we had enough time left on our parking meter to grab some super-yummy Mexican food for lunch. Booya.

I've also had some great success on Craigslist: There's more than one layer of candles there, and all I need is some wax remover to clean up the holders. All of the above, which is exactly the kind of thing I was planning to buy, for $20. Thanks, Lane in Santa Monica! I got this for $2. Thank you, Sae Jin in Pasadena!

I'm going to hit the Rose Bowl Flea Market in 2 weeks -- my bargain hunter has officially been awakened. And now that I don't teach until 2pm on Sundays, I can actually get out there & have some time to dig around.

progress (is the opposite of Congress)

One more thing done in my assembling a wedding dress without a wedding dress shop*: I bought my petticoat today. * I had absolutely NO idea that buying a wedding dress involved purchasing more than a dress. Sheesh. Somebody might've warned me. To date, I've bought: a dress, a petticoat, a bra, panties, shoes, earrings and a hat/veil thingy. Future Brides take heed. I suspect this dept. is a major source of budget-busting. But I digress ...

I originally saw it last week in a vintage store near my apartment. Just to be sure, I did a lot of looking around this weekend in other vintage/thrift shops. It turns out that a petticoat without the wedding dress attached is rather difficult to come by. The only other ones I found were much more expensive, and there were only two of those. So I went back to the first place today, and hooray! it was still there. The best part:

That's right. $17.00. Now all I have to do is get some colored tulle & attach it to the inside layer of this thing, so that it hangs down below the dress' hem a bit. Flash of color + extra inch of length = double win! Major shout-out to the store where I found it:

By the way, I've found SO many cool clothes in perfect condition during this search ... why the hell did I fall out of my vintage habit & go back to paying retail?!?

The other thing I got this week is these: I'm going to make cuff links for Mr. UB & his groomsmen. Now all I have to do is come up with an idea for what to put on top of these. Feel free to leave ideas in the "comments", because so far I've got nothing .... (Photo credit: me; eBay seller here.)

In other Mr. UB-related news, he now has wi-fi at his place. Which means I can bring my laptop over & cruise my wedding porn while a) we're watching football, or b) he's playing World of Warcraft. I think this is a fabulous development. He asked me what I'm going to do with my time after we're married.

My response: Home Decor porn.

shout-outs & stuff I've seen

As I mentioned in a previous post, my wedding dress arrived. And I managed to get through the alteration experience without passing out.* (*barely, but who's counting?) But I've been remiss in letting you know about the amazing people who made it possible for me to get a dress I love on freakin' eBay:

1) Julie at bobsbijoux eBay store. We chatted back & forth via email before I made the leap, and she did so much to calm my nerves about buying a wedding dress online. She was happy to let me exchange it for another size/style if I needed to, with just the cost of shipping, and even offered me some advice when I was wavering between 2 similar styles. Her shop sells overstock & past season J Crew dresses, in lots of colors and short & long lengths. Great stuff for brides & b-maids. I got mine for $122.95 with shipping!

2) R & L Tailoring & Alterations. I found them on Yelp, and wasn't disappointed. They couln't have been nicer, and their price ($75 to take in a wedding dress all the way down the sides & in the back where the zipper is) was very reasonable. They don't have a website, but you can find them at 1263 Smithwood Drive, L.A. 90035 (just a few doors north of Pico, between Beverly Dr. & Beverwil.) 310-557-0249. Read more reviews on yelp here.

3) My dress has pretty thin halter straps, so I realized after very little searching that I was going to need one of those 100-Ways bras from Victoria's Secret. They've been discontinued in stores (probably b/c they're being sued by someone who claims they stole her design) so you can only get them online. The neutral ones are $37.50 now (down from $50), but you can get it for $19.99 if you can make do with a slightly funkier color. The sale ends tomorrow, according to their website.

In my search for a few more wedding things today, I came across these at Ikea: Not my colors, but if they're yours, Ikea Burbank has them on sale for 49 cents each. They're hidden down in the bins right before the cash registers, fyi.

I also managed to order the paper for our invitations today. I finally decided that I'm fed up with regularly cruising the aisles of Michael's for one color, and JoAnn's for the other. (Why can't one or the other carry both? It's the same freakin' manufacturer, for peet's sake.) Even with shipping, it's cheaper to go to the source & get it in bulk, anyway. These are crappy pics plucked off their website, but here's what I'm getting: The top back color "Blonde Columns" is actually just a textured, solid-color cardstock. It's really nice, and I like that it echoes the columns in the achitecture of our ceremony site. $40/125 pieces of 8.5 x 11. We can get two invites per sheet, based on the size of our design -- which leaves lots of extras for screw-ups/people we forgot.
We're getting the 2nd color from the left, "Artic Ice."It just happens to perfectly match the gold ink that I found to stamp the invites with. I like that it's a soft sheen, and not one of those "where are my sunglasses?" sparkly papers. We want classy, not Ceasar's Palace. $13/25 pieces of 12 x 12.
(All images & prices available at The Paper Company.)

Finally, my search for a petticoat continues. I've found a couple in vintage stores, of which L.A. has a ton, but nothing that's quite right. (I have until October, so I'm not worried yet -- check back in August to see if I'm in a lather about it.) But I'm happy because today's outting reminded me of the existence of one of my favorite places: Shareen Vintage. It's an absolute treasure trove of vintage clothing, in a warehouse down where the 5 & the 110 cross. Shareen, who was there today, has an incredible eye, and even better sources. (Seriously, I don't know where or how she finds her stuff. But I wish I did.) The best part: her prices are insanely reasonable. I had to take slow, deep breaths to keep from walking out with a whole new spring/summer wardrobe. (Her collection at the moment is heavy on dresses. How does she get inside my mind?!) No hits today -- one slip was too poufy, one was too big in the waist -- but I told her what I need and I will be going back. She's got locations in Venice & NYC now, too -- info, etc. on her site.