You Down with OTT?

Since almost all of our guests are from out of town, we need some serious Out of Town (OOT) Bags. While I was watching my pennies spent on the OOT bags, I still wanted to make sure we put a little bit of SF and a little bit of ourselves into the bags.

First up, the perfect bag:

From the Target $1 bin, reusable and the perfect size. Run, don't walk to your nearest Target to get your own. They also come in blue and tan.

As for what to put in the bag. Some of the Peeps favorite things of course:

We both love goldfish; Mr. Peep always buys mentos when we are on a road trip; and I can't live without Orbit's Mojito Mint Gum!! Plus we scored some free SF Zagats from a family member- perfect for the foodie lovers! And we bought some handy dandy 'Green Living for Dummies' handbooks.

We also plan on adding these glass containers full of M&Ms and Salted Almonds:

Here are all the glass containers that we've been collecting:


And here are all the OOT Bags together.


Some other items that I am considering adding:

An Advil Travel Pack (my drug of choice):

Source.

The new Colgate Wisp- it's a disposable travel toothbrush and toothpaste all in one:

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They run about a dollar a toothbrush- and I am afraid that if people do bring their own toothbrush then these would just go to waste.

And finally, something I always seem to need, but never have during a trip full of tears of joy:


So hive, what's missing from our OOT bags? What would you appreciate as a wedding guest?

Planning Rewind: Our Invitations Part 2

So I lied to the hive on Friday, I said that I'd have a weekend full of last minute wedding stuff, but in actuality- I did nothing wedding related!!! Unless you call going to the gym and treating myself to a mani/pedi wedding related??? Which in a sense it was- I think I have learned how to justify just about anything as wedding related.

While I don't have much to show for my weekend, I do feel VERY refreshed today and finally feel ready to tackle some of the projects that I should have posted about ages ago.

First up, I showed you our invitations, but I never showed you the full package. One of the things I really wanted was brown envelopes- and boy did I get them. Finding brown, square, eco-friendly envelopes was a challenge. Fortunately we found them- and paid a pretty penny for them. Unfortunately, I don't have the name of the envelope company any more (sorry guys). I will say getting brown envelopes over cream ones ended up being an unexpected wedding splurge and catastrophe all in one.

Since calligraphy was never in the budget, I thought I could easily print them out on our handy dandy color printer. When I went to print our envelopes, I constantly got this message:

ERROR!!!
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Every brides worst nightmare! For some reason our printer hated our envelopes. After hours of struggling with our printer- I went straight to the Hive for an alternative. And thank goodness for the hive!! Mrs. Quiche recommended using Paper Source round labels for the return addresses. Genius!!

I immediately went out and bought two packages of the Super Fine Soft White (aka cream) then took a jpeg of our names from the invite and fit them into the Handy dandy on-line template for the round labels, added our address, picked out a fabulous font (High Tower Text) and presto chango- we had some very cute return address labels (sorry for the need to blur almost all of our invite pictures):

I used the same font for the RSVP envelopes but I used the standard file labels, again in Super Fine Soft White:

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the RSVP envelope.

For the front of the envelope, I used my best handwriting and a Gelly Roll Pen in Gold Shadow- Green. On the brown envelopes the ink wrote green and dried gold, but on white it dries a more greenish gold. I wish I had an envelope to show you, but used up all the ink.

I also tried white pen and clear labels with white ink- neither worked.

My next project again involved Paper Source. A few months before I had purchased their Envelope Liner Template Kit:

The square template fit perfectly. And I found an equally fun wrapping paper to liven up the envelope package. I found that double sided tape and glue worked equally well, but the person at Paper Source highly recommended tape. So of course, that's what I used. It's also a toss up if you should line the envelope first or write the person's address?? I guess I'd recommend writing the addresses first (I think I screwed up more of those). Good thing I had plenty of extra envelopes!!

Before I get to the final product, we included one more element in our invites:

The ever popular- MOO cards!!!

I love these babies. We used a variety of our engagement pictures on one side, and the other side directed guests to our Wedding Website. I will mention that the are a bit small in person, but for 19.99 they were much cheaper (and cuter) than adding a whole other piece to our invites in order to include the website address.

Here's what our invite package looked like:

And here's the package with the back of the envelope too (again, sorry for the blurry invite):

The best part of our invites- each guest had a favorite part. Some loved the Moo cards, some loved the liner, and my Bridesmaid absolutely adored the return address label (you have to love your friends for loving the details just as much as you do!!!)

Anyone else have a hard time with colored envelopes? What was your solution?

Happy Friday!!

My weekend is going to be full of last minute wedding stuff. But in the mean time, I have a serious crush on this dress, the designer Sassy Holford, and the photographer, Shelly Kroeger:

source.

Is it too late to change my mind?? What are you doing this weekend?

Absolute Yumminess

A couple weeks ago Mr. Peep and I had the pleasure of going to our venue for a tasting!! And let me tell ya- it was fantastic!!! From this point forward, please forgive me for my over use of adjectives like fantastic, amazing and phenomenal.

We showed up to the restaurant, were seated and just waited for the surprises to start arriving.

They started off slow: olives and wine:


And then this was brought out- Asparagus and Basil Pizza Fantastic-ness!!

It was so amazing. It instantly was put on the hor d'oeuvre list.

Next up, beef skewers with lemon aioli and an ahi crustini with a spicy aioli.

As a ahi lover, I was so excited for the ahi crustini- it was great, but there was too much aioli. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised by the beef skewers, they were pure deliciousness.

At this point in the evening I had to ask the waiter how much more to expect because I seriously needed to pace myself.

We thought the next course would give us a bit of a reprieve, the salad course. But both were so great we practically licked the plates cleans and we still haven't really decided what we want.

First up, baby greens with toy box tomatoes, feta, radish and balsamic vinaigrette. This one was light, springy and perfectness.

Second, baby greens with blue cheese, spiced pecans and herbed vinaigrette. This had a bit more flavor and we found ourselves devouring the spiced pecans.

We're thinking of doing the second salad yet adding the yummy little tomatoes.

After the salad, we both realized how much we needed this dinner. Mr. Peep was stressed out to the max with school and work, so this gave us the perfect opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy a fabulous dinner together. Here's Mr. Peep enjoying good food, good wine, and an even better dinner partner (he he- that's me).


Next up, the entrees. We had already put on the RSVP that we'd be serving Fish or Beef, but we had no idea what that really meant.

The Chef prepared two fabulous beef dishes. First, a Grilled Fillet with Potato Gratin and Wilted Pea Greens. I never really knew it, but wilted pea greens are da bomb.

On any given day, I'd be so happy with this meal, but then I took a bite of this:

It was a Grilled Ribeye with Compound butter, Wilted Pea Greens and Mashed Potatoes. Uh-MAZ-ING!!

After both of those great beef choices, I was super excited for the fish course. I am not that much of a beef person, so I figured that the fish would be right up my alley. It was a Petrale Sole with Masa Brown Rice, Brown Butter, Capers, Radish and Hearts of Palm.

It was a good dish, but for some reason Mr. Peep and I didn't feel that all of our guest would love it. So we still have to decide what fish to serve. We're thinking Halibut??

At this point in the evening, we started to try the different wines on the list to figure out what we wanted to serve during dinner. We really wanted to serve only local wines, and we found a Napa Valley Red that we loved: a Joel Gott, 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. But we also fell in love with a white Soave, Classico Inama from Verona, Italy. We figure one forign wine on a list of 7 wines served through out the evening isn't bad??

All in all the evening was beyond great. We finished the meal with some butterscotch ice cream (we'll be serving cup cakes at the wedding) and some delicious coffee and mint tea:


We left feeling ridiculously full and extremely excited for our wedding. I just hope we get to eat some of it!!

Since then we've looked over the hors d'oeuvre menu and decided to serve the following:
Risotto Croquettes with Parmesan and Green Onions
Asparagus Pizza with Basil
The beef skewers with lemon aioli
The ahi crustini with a spicy aioli (just less aioli than before)

In the end, I have no doubt that the food will be ridiculously delicious!! Now, I have to go eat. So hungry.

How'd you decide what to serve?

Why Every Girl Needs a Best Weekend Ever.

I know you might be sick of me posting about my bachelorette, but as I said before, I wasn't really down for the typical bachelorette. YET the weekend was more typical than I thought it would be. And I think that is what made it so AMAZING.

First off, the weekend allowed me the opportunity to relax and be fun (surprisingly we aren't actually drunk in this picture):


It gave me an opportunity to dance on benches:


It allowed me to bust a move with Sister Peep:

It gave Mr. Peep an opportunity to make me blush(strike that) cry like a little school girl after his surprise dessert and champagne:

And most importantly, it gave me the opportunity to realize that I really do have some amazing women in my life!!!!


Oh- it also made me realize that some things are just a right of passage:


What was your favorite bachelorette or shower moment? Or what are you most looking forward to?

The Drama, Joys, and Tears of Being Almost Married

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The drama: I have a do-to list that seems miles long.

The joys: thinking about what's already has been planned and decided upon. And realizing that Mr. Peeps and I are on final count down for the big event!!

The tears: the waterworks have started to fall- I started crying on the way to the gym yesterday and while making a hair cut appointment for Mr. Peeps. Yep- while on the phone with a stranger, I had to hold back the overwhelming feeling to start crying.

I've been planning this wedding for what seems like forever. And now each task brings an overwhelming feeling of excitement.

I have also noticed that my wedding panning habits have changed dramatically since day one. When I first started wedding planning, I looked everywhere for inspiration and I looked on vendor websites for hours on end. Today, I'm done with new inspiration and I now I only look on vendor sites for the pretty pictures.

I've had a vision of the big day, and for better or worse- the day is planned- linens are ordered, flowers are set, ties and shoes have been picked out. And now I just need to cry it out and enjoy the day!!

Has the wedding caused an overwhelming need to cry? Tears of joy of course!!!

Movin on Up (and Down) the Aisle

For some reason (that I will never fully understand), when I asked Mr. Peep about a ceremony musician he instantly said he wanted a Cellist. I didn't have strong feelings on the subject, but I said that I would think about it. Right about that time The Secret Life of Bees came out- and lo and behold Alicia Keys was playing the cello- solo. It sounded beautiful!! I made my decision while watching the movie.

I found two great resources in the Bay Area for Cellos to hire- the music department at UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Conservancy of Music. Yet I immediately hit a road block- both only book about three months in advance. I think it has to do with the fact that both programs offer students for hire and the students don't know their schedules that far in advance.

So I patiently waited. When the three month mark hit- I immediately booked a Cellist for two hours through the SF Music to Go program. The prices are really reasonable and the program itself has great ratings on Project Wedding!

After talking to our fabulous Cellist about classical versus contemporary, I did some research and put together a mixed list that we are actually really excited about.

Mr. Peep and the rest of the bridal party will be walking out to the Beatles, Here Comes the Sun. Here's a video of the Beatles hit.



For my song, I surprisingly went traditional. I spent all weekend watching Pride and Prejudice (a movie that is totally in my top five) and throughout the movie they kept playing the same song on the piano- I loved it, and surprise surprise: It's the song that our Cellist recommended. Bach Cello Suite No. 1. Here's Yo Yo Ma playing it beautifully:



And for the recessional, I think you may have heard this one before:


I think it's a mix of fun and tradition, and our Cellist actual thinks that our selection is pretty cool!! I'd highly recommend looking into local music schools for your ceremony music.

What are you walking up and down the aisle to??