Hello all, I've calmed down from my mini temper tantrum from last week.  Turns out, all I needed was a project, and boy do I have a good one for you this morning.  Today I am going to give you a play by play account of how a mildly frustration situation resulted in a really fun project that I got to do with my fiance that turned out spectacularly! 

A long time ago when I was first searching around the blog world, I came across this picture.  I thought it looked so cool to have multiple smaller cakes...very homey...very cool.  I loved the pedestal cake stands which seemed to make the cake look like giant decorative candles of some sort. 

So I started the hunt for pedestal cake stands.  You can find some really amazing ones out there if you're willing to fork over the price.  Check out this adorable 12" cake stand that is made by Vessels and Wares for $160.  It's beautiful, but $160 is really outside of my price range when I could just suck it up and rent a silver one from my rental company for like $20. 

So I kept thinking.  Then one day, another blogging bride posted this picture of her cake table which made me gasp for a couple reasons.  1)  Not only did she have awesome large pedestal cake stands, but they were also bright yellow which just so happened to be our color.  2)  I looked to see where she had purchased these lovely bright yellow pedestal cake stands only to find out that her father actually made these out of wood and painted them for her!  Awesome! 

So I started drawing some pictures and making a list of what I would need to make my own super cool yellow pedestal cake stands.  Then I super sweetly asked my fiancé if he would help me with cutting the wood as power tools give me the heebie geebies.  He was happy to oblige. 

So here we are.  We started with this sheet of pine (I think) that we got from Lowes.  I was going to buy a smaller piece, but my fiancé insisted that we get extra in case of mistakes.  I also bought some pre-cut and routed circles from Hobby Lobby, and some short staircase spindles from Lowes. 

Turns out that we ended up using all but about three inches of this stuff, so I’m glad we did.  We wanted to make one stand that was 16x16” and two stands that were 12x12”.  We also wanted to put a second smaller layer under the first layer to add some depth and some additional sturdiness to the top of the stand, so we also cut a piece that was 13x13” and two that were 8x8”.  (I didn’t take pictures when we were cutting the wood because I was being Helper Girl.  J)

Fast forward to where all the pieces are cut to size.  Now we are ready to make the edges pretty.  A raw cut piece of wood is just flat, and I wanted to add a curved edge like you see on molding pieces.  To do this, you need to use a router.  Don’t worry if you don’t know what that is because I had no idea.  Apparently my fiancé is some secret carpenter because he had all these things ready to go.  Basically a router takes a sharp metal bit and spins it around really fast which, when moved along a piece of wood, carves out the nice molded edge. 

This is what it looked like when we were done.  See all that feathery stuff?  Don’t worry…it won’t be there for long.  That’s where I come in.  Helper Girl took off her glasses, donned her cape, and became Sanding Girl.  Some simple sanding along each edge and side (don’t forget the nooks and crannies) will take off all the “feathers” and will make your edges nice and smooth and ready for painting.  I used 220 grit sand paper. 

Ooops!  How’d that happen?  To this day, I’m still not sure.  Don't worry...we'll fix it...

My fiancé came to the rescue again with some wood putty which is kinda fun to use.  You use take a putty knife or your finger and mush this stuff into any hole or gouge in the wood.  Then it needs to sit overnight to dry.  Then you need to go back over it with the sanding paper again. 

Okay!  We have perfectly cut, routered, sanded, and repaired pieces of wood that are ready for paint.  Before I put a drop of paint on these bad boys, I needed to get any leftover dust or debris off of the wood by running some tack cloth over all the surfaces.  Have you ever touched tack cloth?  It’s tacky.  I mean, you’ll need to wash your hands afterwards…it’s weird, but it does the trick.  Think of it like the ultimate Swifter. 

Now we are ready to prime.  This step is super important!  Wood is a porous material which means that it will suck moisture in rather than leaving it on the surface.  Have you ever seen an untreated deck verses a treated deck after a good rain?  An untreated deck looks soaked while a treated deck has water beaded on the surface.  Lots of people try to skip priming, but don’t you dare be lazy!  You’ll be happy in the end that you did.  Anyhoo, this is the can that I used.  I got it at True Value, but you can find it just about anywhere.  I can vouch for this brand that it worked really well.  In fact, I had started out with another brand that did not do very well, so I had to go out and spend more money to get this brand.  Gr… learn from my mistake and get the good stuff.

Here’s my wood all primed and ready for paint.  And this is where my awesome step by step picture taking ceased to exist.  My camera went through a melt down and refused to work, so let me just sum it up.  I used two entire cans of Valspar gloss yellow spray paint and one can of double glaze gloss finish paint.  I wanted to make the surface glossy like a ceramic platter and also food safe.  Note:  My stands are not glossy like ceramic, but they are pretty shiny.  Also, spray paint is toxic, so I plan on putting down a piece of wax paper between my stands and our cakes so that I don’t poison our guests.  Don’t eat paint chips. 

Then after all the pieces were painted, my fiancé came back in to play by attaching everything by predrilling holes and then using long screws to attach all the layers.  It’s important to do this carefully because this step will make your pedestal stands either steady or totally topsy-turvy. 

Here is our finished product!  They are exactly what I had envisioned, and I’m so happy with them!  I told my fiancé that we should quit our jobs and start a square yellow pedestal cake stand business. 

If you’re interested in making your own custom cake stands, here’s a summary of the materials that we used to make three cake stands: 

·         Pine plank from Lowes ~ $15

·         Saw/Router/Drill – If you have these, great.  If not, maybe you can hunt for pre-cut and routered pieces…I’m positive that they exist somewhere.  Or maybe you’ve got a friendly neighbor that would help you if you mowed their yard or baked them some cupcakes.

·         Sand Paper ~ $5

·         Tack Cloth ~ $2

·         Primer ~ $5 each can (I used two.)

·         Paint ~ $5 each can (I used two.)

·         Glaze ~ $5 each (I used one.)

·         Screws ~ $2

 So that’s it folks.  We are set for our desert table! 

But, I’m curious…where have you turned frustration into innovation by creating something for your wedding??  Share on the message board!    

Hear ye, hear ye!  I declare this post in the name of random wedding rants!  I know that brides are supposed to be delicate and demure and that grooms should be gallant and composed, but damnit!  Sometimes planning a wedding can be a little taxing.  This post today is in substitution of a therapy session.  You, dear readers, are my surrogate psychiatrists.  Here we go…

RANT NUMBER 1:  CONVERSATION AUTOPILOT

Do any of you brides and grooms feel that sometimes you’re answering the same questions over and over?  As our wedding has approached, I feel like I am having the same conversation on auto play repeat no matter where I go.  It sounds something like this:

Someone else:  Hey, your wedding is coming up soon isn’t it?

Me:  Yeah, it’s in (fill in appropriate number) weeks.  It’s coming so fast!

Someone else:  So what do you guys have left to plan?

Me:  Oh not much…just little odds and ends.

Someone else:  How exciting!

Me:  Yeah.

Don’t get me wrong, folks!  I’m excited to get married!  I love all things wedding!  I love imagining how the day will look and feel.  And it’s so nice to hear how people are excited for us.  I’m just a lil’ tired and answering the same question over and over tends to become automated.  Surprise me and ask me something unexpected like how does your cleavage look in your wedding dress or have you considered having a petting zoo at the reception?

RANT NUMBER 2:  SUMMER WAS APPROXIMATELY THREE HOURS LONG. 

At the beginning of our engagement, I would have maybe one wedding project a month which would be leisurely addressed, and I could change my mind a million times without feeling the time crunch of my impending nuptials.  Lately, time has become a precious commodity that seems to be dwindling. 

I’ve had a full schedule this summer of projects, contacts, parties, double checking, fittings, tastings, crafting, bartering, shopping, and blogging.  I still have things on my to do list!  Grrr!!

I remember thinking that I was so happy that I would be done with my school in the spring before we got married this fall because that meant that I could easily finish up any wedding projects this summer without rush or crunching. 

It seems to me that I’m the type of person who will find something to occupy her time even if she’s finished all her projects.  This is my own doing, and I need to come to terms that my to-do list will never end. 

RANT NUMBER 3:  PEOPLE ASSUME AN INVITE.

I’ll make this one short and blunt.  People should never ever ever assume that they are invited to someone’s wedding, especially if they are not a close friend or family.  It is just plain rude for someone to approach a bride or groom to be and ask them for an invite or tell them that they hope they’re invited to the wedding.  I cannot tell you how many people (who I think should know better) have blatantly asked if they could come to our wedding.  Who does this???  I know that weddings are exciting and fun, folks, but you really put a bride or a groom in an EXTREMELY AWKWARD spot when this question is posed.  It has some to do with whether or not the bride and groom likes you, but the scope of a guest list is also dictated by many other factors.    

RANT NUMBER 4:  THE “WHAT IF” GAME.

Unless a bride or groom specifically approaches you and says that they would like to brainstorm possible disaster scenarios and back up plans for their wedding day, don’t play devil’s advocate.  It causes unnecessary drama.  No matter what happens on the wedding day, things will work out.  If someone forgets something or stands in the wrong place, IT WILL BE OKAY.  So stop with the what if, and just let the bride and groom enjoy their time leading up to the wedding.

RANT NUMBER 5:….UM…….

Hmm…I guess I have no more rants right now.  My apologies for this unusually negative post, but I could feel these thoughts banging around in my brain, and I needed a cathartic experience to get them out.  I feel much better.  Thanks for listening as my verbosity ran amuck.  Now it’s your turn.  If you need to scream, scream.  If you need to shout an explicative in the middle of the mall, do it…in Swahili.  If you need to karate chop something, take a rug outside and beat the ever-loving mess out of it.  Then straighten your veil, get your nails did, and slap that smile back on. 

Tell me on the message board what you’d like to rant about today.  It will make me feel better for being so cranky in this post!  J

Oh, do I have a treat for you today, boys and girls.  I know that I often put teasing photos on my posts of places that only exist in our QCA imagination, but today, we have a bona fide luxury hotel property to show off that 1) IS in the Quad Cities, and 2) IS available for QCA brides!

Today on the blog, we are introducing the newly renovated Hotel Blackhawk which is simply a dreamy slice of posh sitting right smack dab in the middle of downtown Davenport.  Nestled right next to the River Center, the Hotel Blackhawk is in the neighborhood of places such as the Figge Art Museum, the Bucktown Center for the Arts, and the riverfront area. 

I recently had the priviledge to pick the brain of Tim Heim, the Director of Marketing and Sales for the Hotel Blackhawk who filled me in on just how this delightful place is going to be a much needed luxury property that will suit the needs of so many brides and grooms.  Check out all the juicy details in our interview below…

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JB:  When a bride and groom decide to book their reception with the HB, who will they be working with (also the person they should contact if interested in booking or a tour)?

TH:  For the time being, the couples can contact me directly.  With the opening of several hotels and the execution of QCA bridal shows, I have had extensive direct experience in the QCA bridal market.  As the Director of Sales and Marketing, I can say that the Black Hawk Hotel is positioned really well.  Our staff understands the bridal market and we are offering high end services and amenities.   Our goal is to  create fairy tale weddings to our QC brides and grooms. 

We are soon bringing on an event coordinator who will be a great addition to our team.  This person has worked at luxury properties in major tier cities and is very familiar with high end services and amenities in the bridal market.  Together, we have over  fifteen years of bridal experience. 

JB:  It sounds like the staff of the HB knows their weddings!  How does the HB property tie in to the “fairy tale wedding”? 

TH:  You should come down and take a look!  The HB is truly going to be a luxury style boutique hotel with an old meets new type of feel:  high end furnishings and amenities.  Our sleeping rooms have a modern feel and our atmosphere is similar to high end hotels in larger markets.  The Hotel Blackhawk will be a very unique property to the QC area. 

JB:  With not all weddings being the same, what size of weddings can the HB accommodate? 

TH:   We can accommodate any size of party!  On the larger side, we can hold up to 300 people for a reception, and we even have space on site for the wedding ceremony.  We have a built in stage for a dance floor and a mezzanine area as an overflow area for cocktails and hand passed hors d’oeuvres.  If a couple is looking to have a smaller wedding or if they are looking for a smaller space for a rehearsal dinner or other gathering, we can do that too!  We have the Club Davenport room up on the 11^th floor that can hold up to 60 people, and we have other break out rooms as well!  We even have an 8 lane bowling alley that can be used.

JB:  A bowling alley?  That is so unique!  I could see that being a really fun place for a bachelorette party!

TH:  Yes, or even if the couple wanted a place where children can  go hang out during the wedding. 

JB:  Great idea!  So many of our couples are looking for something different in their reception catering.  What kind of banquet is the HB equipped to host? 

TH:  We do all of our catering in house here at the HB.  We can do anything from a plated dinner, buffet, action stations, heavy hors d’oeuvres, cocktail receptions, brunches, gift openings, you name it!  If a couple would like to know more about our menu, they can send me an email, and I will send info along to them. 

JB:  It sounds like you guys can do anything!  Beyond food, what services are included in a reservation and what services can be added?

TH:  We have all the tables and chairs that a couple would require, and all of the tables will be covered in linens.  All the china and glassware are also included with their booking of the catering services.  We also include the cake cutting service in most of our bridal packages.  We also have some audio/visual equipment that the couples can rent. 

JB:  If there is a service that the HB doesn’t provide, for example a DJ, do you make recommendations for the couples?

TH:  Definitely!  I have worked extensively in the QCA bridal market over nearly a decade, and depending on what a bride and groom needs, I can definitely steer them in the right direction.  We have established relationships with many local vendors and will even help the bride and groom by making contact with the vendors when the wedding approaches to ensure that all details of the day are covered. 

JB:  What about services beyond a wedding?  What information should brides and grooms know about reserving a block of rooms for their guests? 

TH:  We like to make the wedding guests happy too!  A block of rooms can be reserved for a Friday or Saturday as needed.  All rooms include wireless internet, shuttle  service to the QC airport, and access to the pool and fitness room.  We have valet parking available as well as concierge service to help our guests feel at home in the QCA. 

JB:  Well it looks like you’ve got all angles covered!  If brides and grooms are reading this and are interested in more information on booking, how far in advance can they contact you?

TH:  The couples should call as early as they like to see which days we have open that can accommodate their needs.  We have our official opening this December, and we have already booked several wedding and events all the way through 2012!  We can also show brides and grooms some sample storyboards with swatches to help them visualize their wedding ideas.  We are still developing our website, but couples can have direct access to our services by calling me at 563.639.9124 or by accessing our Facebook page where we continually add information, pictures, and updates! 

JB:  Well what can I say?  The HB property is gorgeous, the service available is superb, and I’m definitely going to have to come down and try out that bowling alley!

TH:  Please do!  We are so pleased to be able to offer our QCA brides and grooms a high end luxury property that can accommodate any gathering with impeccable attention to details and service! 

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Talking to Tim was such a delight, and I can tell you that whoever decides to book their event with the Hotel Blackhawk is going to find themselves in very capable and stylish hands.  Give Tim a call or stop in to the Hotel Blackhawk after its grand opening in December.  Remember that you can book today, and with a property this hot, the dates won’t stay open for long!  Happy Planning!  J

Okay, this post may be jumping the gun a little, but I thought it was some interesting information on gift giving AFTER the wedding.  Below is a list that I came across that shows what kind of gift you would give as an anniversary gift at certain milestones of your marriage.  Some of these make total sense to me while others are puzzling…

For example, to celebrate your ten year anniversary (a pretty big milestone, I’d say), you’re supposed to give a gift of tin or aluminum?  Hi, honey, happy anniversary.  Here’s some foil?  Or how about the fact that you have to wait until your 60^th anniversary to hope for some diamonds?  We’ll be so old by then that we won’t know if it is a diamond or a piece of tin foil rolled into a little ball.  Can’t we switch 10^th and 60^th year anniversary gift themes?

But first thing’s first.  The first anniversary is supposed to be a gift of paper.  So…um…what could you give?  Here are some ideas that revolve around the idea of paper:

How about some tickets to an upcoming concert or to the movies?

Personalized stationery with both your names?

A framed newspaper from your wedding day?

A framed poem or reading from your ceremony?

A photo album?

A gift certificate?

A book?

A subscription to their favorite publication?

A love note?

Here are some questions I have for you, good readers:  Did/would you stick to the “paper” theme for your first anniversary gift?  What would you like to get for a first anniversary gift??  What unique gift did you give as a first anniversary gift? 

Several observations have led up to today’s post: 

1)       The disappointment in my friend’s face when she told us that the pictures of her wedding altar with her wedding party barely showed up because of the poorly lit space.  What could we say?  You can’t really go back and fix that. 

2)      The moodiness that we experience on cloudy days where the sun hides.

3)      The abundance of lighting in any given house even when a single light bulb would take care of an entire room.

My hypothesis based upon my observations (my science teacher would be so proud…): 

LIGHTING IS IMPORTANT.

We like a room to be lit properly, and for every wedding there is a certain lighting scheme that makes or breaks a room.  Even an ugly room can look better with the right kinds of lighting.  Whether you want dark and romantic or light and airy, the proper lighting can do wonders.

So let’s start from the basics and work our way up, shall we?

Candlelight –  Get that glow going by lighting some twinkling tea lights in some beautiful votives on your tables.  Float a candle in a vase of water.  Give your guests candles to light their way.  The gentle randomness of a candle’s glow can certainly add to the ambiance of a space.  (Depending on your ceremony and reception areas, you may or may not be able to have open flame candles.  If you can’t, opt for the battery operated flickering tea lights.  They look fairly realistic.)

Lanterns – Whether they are paper or metal, lanterns are a great way to house an open flame or a light bulb in a safe and beautiful container.  Lanterns can throw gentle light over a large space, and they look great whether they are all by themselves or massed together!

String Lights – Not just for Christmas, various sorts of string lights can really add to the glow of a room.  Whether they are out in the open or hidden, the tiny lights resemble more candlelight or even fireflies.  Put them everywhere!  Under tables, under tulle, in vases, around your cake, strung above your dance floor!

Can lighting and pin lighting – Whether it’s to add some depth to understated columns or to highlight a specific area, can lighting and pin lighting can be a way to add instant drama. 

Colorwash – Don’t like the stark white walls?  Bored with beige?  A colorwash lighting system can completely change the color to pretty much anything you’d like.  You can even have the lighting gradually change throughout the evening from one color to the next!

Gobos – Now we’re getting fancy with customized stencils that can go over can lights and spot lights to add a message or names to wherever the light shines.  How fun would it be for your lighted names to jump around the dance floor as your guests are dancing?

Does all this lighting jargon sound like a short circuit waiting to happen?  No worries, my friends.  There are plenty of professionals out there who are license and experienced in setting up event lighting.  For example, we are having our rental company, AAA Rents, install string lighting on just about every inch of surface for our wedding.  They will get up on those high ladders, they’ll make sure the electrical stuff is where it needs to be, and they’re even installing a dimmer!  We have several rental companies and lighting experts in the Quad Cities, so do a little checking around to see how you can add that GLOW to your wedding!  J