Odd-ball centrepieces I'm liking

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The wedding is real!

We agreed not to get engaged until Chris was done school, but we also want to get married asap! So we're in this awkward place where we're getting married next summer but I don't have a ring on my finger. We just can't afford it until we're both working full-time.

To be honest, I want the ring, but I don't need the ring to know I want to spend the rest of my life with someone and make that happen.

We've picked our location and photographer; we've made our guest list; I'm looking at dresses. It's happening. August 2012.

I don't have a ring, but I'm engaged to be married. And it doesn't feel any different.

Chiavari chairs: worth the money?

I know loving a chair is a little odd, but I love love love the look of a chiavari chair. We're looking at some rustic buildings or outdoor historic properties around Ottawa and I think the contrast between the gilded chair and the rough wood walls or large field or white tent would be stunning.

Here is some inspiration:

Clockwise from top left: via Style Me Pretty; via Events by Heather Ham;
via A Million Little Details; via Landlocked Bride

The issue? In Ottawa, you're looking at about $10 to rent one chair. Let's say 100 guests, plus 20 extra chairs for the dancing area, in case extras show, or for vendors looking to rest their feet, that's 120 X $10 = $1,200. Plus taxes and delivery. For chairs.

Ouch! Don't forget we'll be renting tables, linens, dishes, utensils, lights, and more. Cha-ching. CHA-Ching. CHA-CHING!

But they're so pretty! And so comfortable! And they wouldn't hurt my bottom...just my bottom line!


General Knot & Co.: Gotta love a man in a bow tie!

I gotta tell you, a man in a bow tie is HAWT. Add in suspenders and you've got me drooling. There is something so cool, so retro, so effortless of a patterned bow tie!

I have fallen in love with General Knot & Co. Just check out their stuff!

Style at Home: in-hand or online?

I love me a good edition of Style at Home and am giving in and getting a subscription (instead of sitting on the patio furniture with a box of sweets reading an edition in my local grocery store once a month).

But my dilemma is, paper or digital? I like the feel of a magazine. I love flipping through. I like to dog-ear pages I can't live without. But the idea of keeping Style at Home at my finger tips (being able to search the magazine?!) is very difficult to pass up. And I do like to be "green" when possible.

But I recycle. I use my green bin for composting, and we only put out the garbage every three weeks. Surely I'm green enough already, no?