Cati’s Invitations – which will she choose?
I’ve been looking at papers and sent Cati and her mother some selections I found online. Cati wrote me to say she likes the kimono fold shown below. Her mother wrote to say she also likes the side fold style. Not sure which they’ll decide on. I found some beautiful paper. One is a handmade marbled rice paper similar to the paper used in the kimono fold invitation I made for Alexis’ wedding but the color is totally different. It’s in turquoise and rose with gold which will coordinate with the colors Cati has chosen for her attendants. Another paper I found is called lace paper. It’s a handmade paper made to look like lace by dropping water on the paper while it is still wet … pretty hard to imagine the process but the end result is amazing and gorgeous.
- Alexis’ wedding invitation!
Adornments is getting around!
Yay! We’ve just recently started our business and low and behold we’ve already been blogged about! Check out this great post at Williamson County Weddings! Thanks Amy!!
Williamson County Weddings Blog
Yep that’s a picture of me (Alexis) with my husband at CJ’s Off the Square on our wedding day! If you’re looking for a nice venue, I highly recommend CJ’s!! The ladies there also offer an excellent concierge wedding planning service!
A time and place for Elvis
Periodically throughout the planning process, one delights in toying with the idea of just chucking all this planning stuff, hopping a plane, and going searching for the perfect Elvis to marry you! We’ve even toyed with the whole drive-through wedding concept! Just imagine, you make a mixed cd of all your favorite songs, pop it in the cd player in your car, get a tuxedo t-shirt for the groom and a tiara or bride hat for the bride and just drive on through! You could even chapel hop and get married over and over again at different drive through chapels! Make a night of it and go in sometimes too! Then you could wallpaper a room with the resulting multitudes of marriage certificates for a truly spectacular souvenir of the night!
Wedding with Elvis
Ok, that may be going too far, but it I’ve heard from many couples that the idea of just running away to Vegas always seems to come up (usually suggested by a groom who has just realized how much work getting married entails) at least once, and more often several times… 
So, for all of you who are tempted to experience the classic Elvis wedding in Vegas- this post is for you!! I actually found a website for Cupid’s. They have not one, but two Elvises! but also so much more! Just imagine: no more will you have to face the anger/disappointment of family who feel left out by your choice to elope to Vegas (though I do recommend giving them the option of attending even if you know they won’t be able to make it)- you can now broadcast your wedding live on the internet! It’s true! Your family would need to simply go to their websiteand connect to the link for watching a live wedding within 5 minutes before it’s supposed to start, and Voila! Your friends and family all over the world will be able to see at you get married (with or without Elvis)! As an added bonus, if the time of your wedding is inconvenient for your family, your wedding can be saved to the website so they can view it later! It’s not password protected or anything (yes, I watched a wedding…don’t judge!) so make sure you’re on your best behavior!
How easy it would be… just reservation and a plane ticket. Your invitations could consist simply of the web address and the time your wedding is to start. And then, there’s Elvis. I hear no wedding is complete without a visit from The King. Though personally, I’ve never felt any great need to be married by him-I must admit, it makes for an entertaining story… There is always a time and a place for Elvis weddings and online weddings (thank God for the internet making that one possible) and at a certain point, they all sound like good ideas, but not today…
Wish me luck!
How we do…
Welcome to the studio for a quick tour on how we do what we do!
Just to give you an idea of how we go about creating a commissioned piece for you, here’s an example of one that I (Alexis) did recently! For all you Twilight fans out there, the project was to make a bracelet much like the one Bella wore to the prom. We were still in the construction process on our new store front when in walked Faith, with poster in hand. She asked me if I could make her a bracelet (for her parent’s to give to her for Christmas, hehe). Surveying the destruction around me and the hopeful look on her face, I made a snap decision, “Of course, I can! I’ll have it to you before our grand opening on Dec. 20th.” We discussed her budget and what she liked about the bracelet (pretty much every thing!) and whether there were any changes she wanted. The original (it’s a little hard to tell from the picture) seems to be a cuff bracelet with a turquoise cabochon. With movie posters for inspiration, I set to ordering materials.
Bella & Edward at Prom
With an idea in the brain, once the materials arrived, I set to work. The challenge of course is to turn this into the picture above…
Work bench and materials for Bella bracelet.
Well, I won’t take you through what happened next step by step (I’m sure it’s far too technical anyways and I wouldn’t want to completely destroy the mystery for you), but after much cutting, soldering, and melting metal into small balls, this is what I came up with.
Faith's Bella Bracelet
Cati’s Wedding
My niece Cati is getting married on May 24, 2009! We’re sooooo excited (of course, weddings are fun). She’s asked me to make her invitations! Hurray! So, she sent me samples of her bridesmaids’ fabric so that I can start to get an idea about colors and styles. There are three shades of red and a teal for the maid of honor, all with gold trim. It’s very indian- like sari fabric- beautiful! So, I’m looking for either a red or a teal hand made paper with gold in it for the invitation covers (I’ll let you know when I find it- hopefully we can get some pictures up on this so you can see for yourselves!).
Venues, venues, venues…!
So on Monday, Jim and I took the crew (my mother, my sister, and Jim’s mother) to see some potential venues. We were feeling pretty flexible about venues when we started. The only real opinions we had were: we’d like the ceremony and reception to be at the same place- it just makes things so much less stressful in that there’s no having to coordinate two venues and no need to travel between them on the day of the wedding, and we are pretty sure we don’t want a traditional church wedding as neither of us have a church or priest that we are particularly fond of, so we’d feel more comfortable at a more secular venue…we think… 
(don’t hold us to that as we may change our minds at any moment!)
We began at The Belmont Mansion:
The Belmont mansion is an historical site…the website doesn’t have very many pictures so it was very difficult to visualize where the ceremony would take place so we had to go in person to even get a sense for the place. It’s located on Belmont campus- so dodging students was a must as we drove there to find… No Parking! There was a tour going on so their few parking spaces were completely filled. The mansion staff provided us with guest passes to park on the round about in front of the mansion to avoid being towed. We found the mansion to be disappointing, in all honesty. The staff were largely unhelpful and conveyed the impression that they could care less if we wanted to get married there or not. That may be a result of the popularity of that venue-they didn’t need our business- a popularity which was surprising given the lack of flexibility in ceremony/reception options-they told us exactly where the ceremony would take place (no choices)- and it was in front of a series of windows that face the back of another building! The room is long and rectangular with pillars, so we knew right away that the reception would be difficult if we wanted dancing… and we do!There is a lovely staircase
Belmont Staircase
(which is apparently unstable- there can only be a few people on it at a time) for the bride to walk down from the bride room. The bridal prep room itself, we never saw as they did not take us up there to see it- but we were told that it was a small, spare room with no bathroom. Conversely, the groom’s prep room is downstairs just off the ceremony room- with a bathroom because “grooms have a tendency to throw up more than brides” and it was conveniently near the backdoor “in case he wants to run away.” I’m sure the staff member that we spoke to intended this to be funny, but we found them to be largely inappropriate and crass especially as they were said in front of the groom and his mother! So, all in all- not a good experience! We will not be getting married at the Belmont Mansion! Check! Hey, it’s a useful thing to know- you have to check places off as definite no’s on your way to finding the venue that is right for you. On the up side, we learned more about what we wanted from a venue- namely: flexibility/options, more room for dancing, and helpful/friendly staff to work with!
The next stop was through a company called Nashville Event Space and they have several locations that they offer along with an event coordinator to work with you and all of the vendors that you’ll inevitably need.
3rd aVenue
First, we went to 3rd aVenue- conveniently on 3rd avenue south, it’s has a quiet, rather unnoticeable exterior, but the interior is great! There are three levels- the main floor is all warm wood and semi-industrial fixtures. It’s a blank canvas for you work your magic on in any way you can imagine. There’s a stage at one end (for a band?) and plenty of dancing space if you want it (We do! We do!!).
3rd aVenue Loft
The top level is a loft from which you can over look the goings on on the main floor- so a nice quiet(er) place a retreat to for cooling off, chatting, mingling- all the things you want to be able to do when you’re not making the rounds or getting your dance on. There is a basement as well- a cool place a chill out and have cocktails while the main room is flipped from ceremony to reception or just another retreat for people to cool off and chat. The “green” room is located down there as well- a funky good-sized room for pre-wedding prep and relaxation with a semi-secret staircase back up to the main floor for a dramatic entrance!
3rd aVenue
What we loved about this venue was it’s flexibility and comfortable. We felt that there was a comfortable place for all of our guests regardless of their age or entertainment inclinations- the 80 year old grandparents can settle on couches to be near the action but still comfortable, the guys can retreat to the loft to do their male bonding rituals, extended family can meet around bistro tables and catch up on family news while they munch on whatever treats we decide on… The only question we have about this venue currently is about catering. All of the catering for Nashville Event Space is provided by Chef’s Market. We have no idea what their food is like. They do have a cafe’ in Goodlettsville, so we’re planning a trip to go try them out and see if they are worthy!!
The last stop on Monday was another Nashville Event Space- The Sound Stage.
Sound Stage
Reportedly, lots of local big name music stars like to rehearse and record there as there is a professional-quality stage and music system. Admittedly, an odd choice for a wedding venue- I don’t think they’ve ever done one there before, but it’s a really nice room. Of course it is just in a big warehouse on a miscellanious side street, so not a pretty venue from the outside, but that could just make the impact of the inside that much greater! It’s a blank canvas as well- a large black room, unfortunately carpeted so we would have to rent a dance floor for the reception- but the acoustics would be amazing and we could do some really interesting things with light to liven the place up.
Sound Stage
The down sides are that there are no retreats for people who may not be that in to the music- there’s no getting away from it in that room. It’s something to think about, but the comfort of our guests is very important to us, so that may be a deal-breaker.
What we loved about the Nashville Event Spaces was that they were very flexible, welcoming and seemed genuinely excited to work with us- we never once felt like they were rushing us out or unwilling to consider doing things differently. They said several times that they would be as much or as little involved as we wanted them to be- they were happy to help with anything we wanted them to- that was a relief- you really got the sense that they cared about making sure that you were getting what you wanted.
At the end of the day- we were drained…who wouldn’t be? We had a lot of new information to consider and discuss, but we made good progress on defining our wants and needs for a venue, but we didn’t leave feeling that “Oh, yes! This is it!” that you always hope for. We would be happy, we think, at the 3rd aVenue location- but we have to confirm that the food is up to our standards first! We’ll let you know how that goes!
Wish me luck!
A note about hierarchy…
Jim & Laura Dancing at Alexis' Wedding (Image by Gray Photography)
I mentioned in my last post that we had a hierarchy of important items for our wedding. The idea is to help you as a couple focus on what’s most important to you for your wedding. Of course you want everything to be the best it can possibly be, but unless your funding is unlimited, you’ll have to make choices about where to spend the bulk of your money. If you both love food and would be miserable if you didn’t have the most spectacular food in the world!, but you don’t really dance, so music wouldn’t necessarily be as important to you, then you know that you need to spend more money on catering and less on music.
Our hierarchy is as follows: Music, Venue, Photography & Catering, Flowers, etc.
Jim is very interested in music- one of our favorite activities from the very beginning of our relationship has been going to concerts, so music had to be our most important item. I have loved to dance my whole life and we have taken ballroom dance lessons together(I know- I’m lucky), so it’s important that we have a good reception space with a dance floor for us to dance the night away on (everyone else can dance too)! Both of these loves mean that we need to spend the bulk of our budget on the music and the space. We happen to already know some really great photographers, so we’ve chosen them before we even have a venue or a date! They did my sister’s wedding (Alexis) and we all just loved working with them to the point that they haven”t gotten rid of us yet! Check out their website at http://GrayPhotograph.com (they’re in our links as well)- they do an amazing job!
As for the rest, we haven’t gotten there yet…
Wish me luck!
We’ve only just begun…
So, I’m getting married in October, 2009 to the most fantastic man in the entire world: Jim (short name, amazing fellow). To that end, there is much to be done! Like a lot of couples, we want something special and very “us” for our wedding. This blog will track our progress as we go through the turbulent process of getting married!
Jim & Laura at Alexis' Wedding (Photo by Gray Photography)
It’s true, we’ve only just begun to plan our wedding; we’re not sure what we want quite yet other than that it be a really great day! Who doesn’t want that though? All we really have so far, is a hierarchy of importance (i.e. what’s most important to us as a couple: venue, food, music, etc) and a list of the necessary invitees (very important step and a great place to start!).
So, list in hand, we began to search for venues! Can’t get married without a place to get it done! There are so many places out there to get married though, and digging through them all can be very hit and miss. So, to make our job a little bit easier, we started at Ashley’s Bride Guide and Wedding Wire. These sites have compiled lists of the best vendors in town for everything from venues to shoes and everything in between that you and your groom are going to need for the big day! So, much easier than random google searches and prayer! We found a couple possibles in our searches and the first trip to see them is on Monday! The whole gang is going to be there: my mother and sister/matron of honor (yes, the store will be closed!), possibly my grandmother, Jim and his mother- hopefully Jim won’t be too overwhelmed by the estrogen!
I think it’s a really nice touch to let people be involved from the very beginning- mothers and grandmothers often like to know all about the details of your impending marriage, but they get really excited to be in on it from the very beginning! Of course, you have to remember that it is YOUR day (bride and groom), so at the end of the day, the only ones who really have a say are the two of you (assuming the decision is not about the price and someone else is paying… they get a little say… ) You are the ones who have to be happy about how it’s going to go, everything else can be soothed later if necessary! So, the plan is to be nice and let everyone be included, but in the end, it’s our day.
Wish me luck!
Woo hoo!
For our first ever blog to the world, we’d like to introduce ourselves! We are Adornments (by we, I mean Lucinda Harshey, Alexis Anbari, and Laura Lempke); we are three recent immigrants to the South (we got here as fast as we could!) from Indiana. We came here with the express purpose of starting Adornments- a jewelry and fine art studio/gallery- and I’m proud to report that we have succeeded in doing just that! We opened for the first time on a dark and stormy December day in 2008 and have been spreading one-of-a-kind beautiful pieces of art all across the nation ever since! Thinking our task was well under way, we were surprised and delighted to hear a cry for help from the wedding community begging for dazzling custom-made, unique wedding jewelry and exquisite hand-made invitations! We are hastening to fulfill the wishes of every bride who dreams of her very own one-of-a-kind bridal set, or the perfect gifts for her attendants, mother or groom, even (he needs cufflinks, right? How about a tie pin?) Whether it be diamonds and pearls, or delicate chainwork, we have the skills to make that dream come true! We will make sure that everyone remembers YOUR invitations as the most beautiful and unique that have ever been seen (yes, they’re very nice )!
The purpose of this blog will be to let people know what we’re up to- what marvelous new projects we’re working on- how crazy Alexis has gotten with her wirework, what new designs Lucinda has for her invitations, and whether Laura is covered in paint or silver dust on any given day (it’s always something with that one). Over the course of the next several months, there will be posts from each of these ladies talking about whatever they’re working on, the trials and tribulations of life in the art and wedding business. Please, feel free to comment (good or bad)- we’d love to know what you’re interested in knowing more about and would be happy to answer any questions you have. Check back for regular installments of Adornments Watch! Thank you!
