Thrifty in White

The (37) Kids Are All Right

Us as wedding kiddies. Can you even handle his look?! Awe.

Note to all busybody couples out there: When planning a wedding, don't estimate your guest count before you actually sit down and actually start writing down names. Because when you're wrong, you will think your guest list is utterly untameable and you will threaten to cut everyone in order to reach the original number you thought you would invite.

For Dustin and me, the magic number was 150, which we blabbed about all over town before we counted up our family and friends. And then we started making some lovely new friends in our town, and the numbers grew bigger than the drama on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race.

And when we finally sat down and made the list? 213. Does our venue even hold that many people? How will we ever afford to feed all of these people that we didn't even know we knew?

Cue major freak out.

And among those 213 guests are a whopping 37 kids, which we were advised to cut from the list by just about all who we encountered.

But, as you saw in the photos above, Dustin and I were kids who loved weddings. OK, maybe Dustin really didn't enjoy that particular one, because I've heard from his family that he was a royal pain and refused to take group pictures and instead ran around like a nutcase. But I really did love them, and when Dustin grew up a little bit, he did too. The music, the people, the energy...it's like one giant all-ages playground. I also had my first slow dance with a real boy at a wedding, so clearly my feelings run deep.

And so we decided to not cut the kids because they're very important people, too. They'll be a riot on the dance floor and adorable in pictures, and it will make it easy-peasy on the families coming from other parts of the state (and beyond). Plus, the little ones eat for free, and if the even smaller ones cry during the important parts, it won't be a big deal. Because you know what? We'll all be crying, too.

Photo source, via Pinterest

 

Via Pinterest

 

Did anybody out there go mad over a guest list gone crazy? Were your numbers way off like ours were? And let's get honest...did you cut the kiddies?

 

 

Stay thrifty,
Hollie

Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

Solo Wedding Planning and the Dreaded "MY"

*For starters, are you digging the new Thrifty in White design or what?! A huge thank you to Super Runaway for being incredibly patient, talented, lovely and very superhero-like. More big changes are coming to our little budgeted corner of the interwebz, so keep checking back! It's gonna be a total rehaul, y'all.

 

If there's one thing I wish brides would chew up, spit out and squash forever, it's the word "MY." Grammar mistakes? I'll deal with it if I must. But completely taking over something meant for two? It's like riding a tandem bicycle by yourself in the world's tightest jeans and spike heels with one flat tire.

In other words, it's completely opposite from this adorbs picture:

Image source, via Pinterest

 

"My invitations are so..."

"My bridesmaids wore the prettiest..."

"My ceremony will be the most..."

Because unless you're Dennis Rodman circa-1996 and you're really, truly setting out to marry yourself, there are two people involved. OK, unless you're going to be a sister wife, because then there would be more than two people involved. But I think this is getting a bit too technical.

Most wedding bloggers are women. The wedding industry aims to please the ladies, TV shows feature our hissy fits and our dress selections, and free drinks are shoved in our faces at bridal shows. I'm not complaining, really (especially when it comes to the latter), but my heart goes out to the grooms, some of whom seem to be a bit forgotten under all the chantilly lace and milk glass.

They propose and inadvertently relinquish the power of decision-making and even having an opinion, because society tells us the wedding day is all about the bride. What, pink butterflies aren't your all-time favorite things? That's just too bad, because it's a recurring theme that is going to take over every aspect of the wedding.

I understand that not all grooms want to have much control, but I also understand that some actually do. Maybe they don't want to step on your excited little toes by actually voicing an opinion, but I would bet our entire wedding budget that some of them would at least  like to be asked.

Case in point: Myself and Dustin. I'm sad to say that I, too, was socialized to believe that the wedding would be all about me. Luckily, my groom-to-be has an opinion, and we've been together far too long for him to keep it from me.

Me: "Blah blah blah, we're not having a bridal party. I don't want to deal with it.

Him: "But I really want our friends to stand up with us."

Me: "That's just too bad."

Him: "Umm, but it's important to me."

*Cue pre-teen tantrum and a call to my mom with the full intention of tattling on him followed closely by a tag-team tell-him-like-it-really-is moment. I realize now how dumb this sounds, and I blame this on a severe case of bride-brain.

Fortunately for me (though it was quite unfortunate at the time), my mom set me straight. The same woman who praises my accomplishments and tells me when I have something in my teeth also taught me that a wedding is, in fact, about two people. And that before I make any decisions, I need to take a step back and include Dustin.

And when I got over myself a hot second later and finally included him, it was like opening the floodgates. Before I realized what was happening, he was calling the officiant, making a wedding song list, looking into venues, and having a valuable opinion about everything he could have an opinion about. It was truly a bicycle wedding built for two.

 

Image source, via Pinterest

 

...until Dustin temporarily moved far away this month for work with plans to be gone until April or longer. Our seemingly-miles-long list of DIY bouquets, invitations, ceremony decor and sweet personal touches fell entirely into my hands. There's only so much planning you can do over the phone, am I right?

Suddenly, our projects lost importance because they wouldn't be created by the both of us. Plus, things are just easier when two people split up the work. And as cute as my dog and cat are, their paws don't really lend themselves to holding a pair of scissors.

I know I'm not the first bride to go through this, and I know I won't be the last. There are people planning weddings while their partner is stationed halfway around the world serving our country. There are couples planning long-distance weddings, separated by work or school or plain ol' logistics.

So with two trouble-making pets and a group of amazingly crafty and talented friends and family, I'm hoping we can turn what now feels entirely like a "MY" wedding situation back into a positive "OUR" wedding experience. With Dustin dialed into a conference call and our loved ones' hands helping with a menagerie of projects, it should at least be a memorable journey that can still be all about the two of us.

Anybody out there dealing with solo wedding planning...or want to be the solo wedding planner? Is your partner an equal helper, or did they choose not to be? And let's be honest with each other: Did you have any 'zilla blowups at first because you had a vision? It's so embarrassing now, I know, but can't we all learn from our mistakes?

Stay thrifty,
Hollie

Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

This Is Such A Delicious Surprise, I Don't Know Where To Even Begin.

Thrifty in White has been a little bit neglected in recent days. Why, you ask? For starters, we were all sorts of excited to celebrate Dustin's college roommate's epic wedding (and the shenanigans that followed, which included Dustin learning then executing the stanky legg dance).

And we were also all sorts of excited TO TAKE ENGAGEMENT PHOTOS. YES. IT'S TRUE. AND THIS CAPS LOCK DOES INDICATE ME SCREAMING THESE WORDS IN MY HEAD.

Let me stop this scream-typing and show you some teasers already!!!

 

Photos by Seth and Mary Morris of Seth Morris Photography. We're obsessed. You should probably check out their Facebook.

 

Right? RIGHT!? I know. I don't think I've been able to slow my racing heart since our fabulous photographers posted this teaser. And guess what? This is only a smidgen of the goods. Seth and Mary, you guys are seriously the bomb and we can't wait to have major photo fun on the wedding day!

We had a killer time with this whole shoot, and the theme was "Fashion Show With Tons o' Props, Minus Oodles of Kissing and Snuggles."  What, you don't think it's a real theme? Well it is now. Vintage Chanel, DVF, a crocheted shawl by my lovely grandma, estate sale bow ties, and a yellow Schwinn tandem bike we borrowed from Dustin's Facebook friend via an intense search session (and major props to this weekend's groom, who let us borrow his truck to haul it mere hours before his wedding rehearsal). Everything we wore were things we already had hiding in our closets.

Such an amazing time with lots of laughs and bright red lipstick kisses all over my darling's face. And guess what? He didn't even complain. I love the bejezus out of that guy, seriously.

What about you guys? Did you have any scary e-pic sessions? Or were you blessed with amazingly epic photographers like ours? Did you go the prop route, too? Spill your guts!

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie



  
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

The Hard Truth: You'll Probably Be Different Next Year.

Yesterday I was sort of damning the fact that Dustin and I didn't plan too much in the year we've been engaged, and now with 7 months to go, we'll likely be busier than a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest.

However, however, however. I woke up singing a different tune today. Because in that year since we've been engaged, our lives have changed, our ideas have changed, and our taste in weddings has (so drastically) changed.

 

These photos are from this website, which I covet for cool pick-me-ups. This post actually made me want to bust out the Dr. Martens boots again, srsly.

 

Can you even believe I went to like every single bridal expo in the Chicagoland vicinity when we first got engaged regardless of whether or not they had free drinks and things I actually wanted to see?! I know...shocking. And they were those big-box "Leave us your e-mail address so we can send you tons of SPAM" sorts of expos that boasted one limo service after another and super-bland photography companies that crank out 5,000 weddings a year.

Thankfully, I got tired of that really quickly.

But along with our excitement about being newly engaged and planning a wedding, we started scouting vendors and scooping them up for fear our date --a Saturday in June--would be booked solid by all we encountered. And without thinking about how any of it would affect the budget and without doing as much comparison as we really should have, we completely and utterly splurged on some things we really should not have.

Shame on us. Ugh.

Do we regret some of our decisions? Definitely. Did we go through a phase of talking about it on a daily basis and screaming about our mistakes and wishing we hadn't been so quick in choosing someone before we looked around for a few months? YES.

So, brides- and grooms-to-be who are planning during a long engagement, learn from our huge mistake and follow this handy-dandy advice:

 

1. Do not book vendors without thoroughly researching their competition and their competition's prices. Check out review sites and read every single review from actual clients. Stalk their website and blog like a crazyperson and get a feel of their work--and them.

2. If possible, try not to make huge, important decisions based on what you like right at this moment. Odds are within the next year or months, your taste will change. Tear your eyes away from the "All Wedding Inspiration, All the Time" blogs and think about what matters to you...not the trends you're seeing on these unrealistic sites.

3. And if you, like us, have made a decision you are now regretting, you have two options: Suck it up, or lose your deposit and do something about it. Not wanting to say goodbye to the money? Then deal with it. Stop whining about doing things differently and focus on the importance of the wedding itself: A celebration of two people coming together and dancing, laughing, partying and loving. Maybe right now your wedding aesthetic is "ruined," but will it even matter in the long run? Believe it or not, the wedding is more than details, friends.

 

Number three took a looooong time for us to accept, believe me. And you know what? Sometimes we still just smack our heads and wallow in regret. But you know what else? It's worthless. And time-consuming when we really should be figuring out other important things, like where is the ceremony even going to take place and who the heck is going to officiate?!

Anybody else out there feeling our pain? Did you jump into wedding planning without doing your homework? Are your heads sore from smacking them, too? Let's chat about long engagements.

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie
  
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

Ready, Set...PLAN. But Not Too Fast.

It's really hard to believe that Dustin and I have been engaged for almost a year. It feels like yesterday he surprised me with the ring o' my dreams, put it on to my freezing cold finger amid a Chicago ice storm, and then we kept the biggest secret ever from our family and friends for over 24 hours (yes, that was incredibly hard and I hated it).

And now that we've planned this long engagement so we could leisurely plan our shindig...we realized we have done NOTHING. OK, not really nothing. We booked a photographer, DJ and venue. And I got the dress.

But other than that, we've done NOTHING. I realized this when we went to dinner with some couple-friends who are getting married a mere month before us and have everything booked, done, and paid for. Dustin and I felt like failures.

Sure, I've spent hours melting my eyeballs out of my head looking at endless "wedding inspiration," which seriously seems to form one big meaningless mass in my brain at the end of the day, and we've talked about what kinds of stuff we want. But we've not acted on anything, and now that we're at the 7-month mark, it's time to get serious.

Ready, set...PLAN!

While my beloved was out deer hunting innocent Bambis all weekend (...don't get me started), I was a hunting widow. And you know what? Being a hunting widow for a weekend is not all bad: I went shopping. I ate food that Dustin hates and got the bed all to myself. I got uninterrupted snuggletime with both pets. And I watched the documentary Babies, which almost made me want to drop everything and have a baby. Almost.

But perhaps the most substantial thing I did all weekend was start the wedding planning ball on a slow roll. I took the collection of sloppy, vague notes Dustin and I have been scribbling for the last year, which included "ideas" that were nothing more than a song we liked or a color that makes us happy, and I expanded them.

And you know what? Wedding planning turned out to be kind-of-hard-but-not-so-much.

I had to have a starting point, and that starting point was Google Wedding Docs. Seriously, go on this site and make yourself a damn spreadsheet if you haven't already. And color-code it if you're feeling sassy or incredibly organized.

And now with just 7-months to go, we've compiled our guest list. Huge accomplishment! We're ready to take on the world! Look out, wedding planners of the world: Hollie and Dustin and taking 'yer jobs!

Unfortunately for us, blathering about our 150-person casual summertime wedding-fiesta turned out to be for naught...it's now an over-200-person casual summertime wedding-fiesta.

HolyOMG. More on this later, because we're too weirded out about the fact that we even know this many people, let alone inviting this many people to our, ahem, intimate affair.

So until I can muster up the cojones to write about how the guest list grew and refused to be wrangled, here are some other wedding decisions we've (I've?) made:

 

I went to this store in the mall called Icing for the first time (which is somehow related to Claire's but not quite as terrifying) because I'm on the hunt for a necklace to wear to a wedding this weekend. Anyhoodle, I got this feather hair flower and necklace for under $5... combined. Yes, I added a brooch in the center of the flower and made some adjustments to the necklace, but that price? Deeelish.

 

This necklace is also from Icing, and was a whopping $3. Maybe I'll force this stuff upon unsuspecting bridesmaids or wear it myself at the wedding or in engagement photos? Not sure yet. But I got it. And it was a deal.

 

And this is our wedding cake substitute, which will be covered in cupcakes abound on the big day. I was sort of thinking about DIYing a cupcake stand, and then for a hot second I wanted to just collect a lot of cake stands and have them stacked and spread out over an entire dessert table (clearly I stole this from the multitudes of wedding inspiration I've been mindlessly gazing at for the last year), but both of those ideas were scrapped.

I picked this up at some random home goods store for $15. Not only will it look fancy at the wedding, it will look downright delicious covered in cupcakes at our annual Christmas party next month.

 
More on the new-found planning next time. Anybody else out there slack during their first months--or year--of being engaged? Did it hurt or help you in the long run? Are you finding any good deals out there on wedding accessories? Yeah? Then spill your guts!

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie
  
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

The Musical Gods Have Given Us A Sign

Earlier this summer, I was a crabby passenger in Dustin's car during a long ride to God knows where. Clearly I wasn't paying attention, but that's not important to this story. Instead of the oldies-love-child (me) and the classic-rock-die-hard (Dust) fighting over the radio controls per usual, I dug through his insanely old and lulzy collection of CDs and found this delicious gem:

 

The most amazing track list you could ever hope for: 

Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
Hey Jealousy – Gin Blossoms
Sex and Candy – Marcy Playground
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something
Runaway Train – Soul Asylum
All I Want – Toad the Wet Sprocket
Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong – Spin Doctors
Brick – Ben Folds Five
Everything Falls Apart – Dog’s Eye View
Lump – The Presidents of the United States of America
Freshman – The Verve Pipe
No Rain – Blind Melon
Pets – Porno for Pyros
Pepper – Butthole Surfers
Steal My Sunshine – LEN
Fade into You – Mazzy Star
Mother Mother – Tracy Bonham
Save Tonight – Eagle-Eye Cherry

 

And if there's one type of music we can agree on, it's 90s EVERYTHING. We swooned and jammed and sang and reminisced over every single song on this CD. And for us, musical agreement on this extreme level is quite an amazing feat.

I always knew I was a child of the 90s (albeit a product of the 80s): I donned Nike warm-ups to school. I wore out a pair of Airwalks and owned a coveted black & white polka-dot pair of Dr. Martens. I had a space bubble watch. I lived my life through VH1 countdowns and the Empire Records soundtrack. I was more grunge-loving than my parents would have liked. I actually envied the girls who shaved the underside of their hair, their rebellion visible when wearing a ponytail.

And I sort of knew Dustin was a child of the 90s, too, because he took me to a Gin Blossoms concert when we first started dating (which was stellar, although they played "Hey Jealousy" multiple times in the same show. The crowd started to throw things). But this CD cemented our mutual generational love in a way I can't even describe.

Viva la 90s.

And then we forgot about it...until last night.

In a fit of sleeplessness, I woke up in the middle of the night to hear not one, but three Alanis Morissette songs in a row on my Pandora Radio. The power of three. Alanis. 90s. All of a sudden, it clicked in a very wedding-y way.

We must have a 90s-infused wedding or bust! Imagine dancing around to "One Headlight" by the Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind everything, "You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals, and Lisa Loeb and the Cranberries and the Goo Goo Dolls and the women of Lilith Fair including, of course, the lady who started this idea in my head: my beloved Alanis.

If guests don't like it, they can go back and cry in their hotel while Dustin and I cut a rug the entire night, cheeks hurting from laughter, singing every single memorized word.

What about you guys? Anybody else have a musical theme? Or are you doing a little bit of everything to appease the many guests? Let's chat MUSICA.

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie
  
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

 

 

Some Pre-Wedding Honeymooning? Or Maybe Not?

Even though lots of our wedding details are, ahem, up in the air (to say the very least), there is one thing we thought we had nailed down: The glorious honeymoon.

Dustin and I had it in our heads that we wanted to spend a few weeks traveling around the lovely United States on a road trip of sorts. Europe would be terrific, but why go out of the country when there is so much deliciousness in our continental backyard?

He constantly talked about Yellowstone National Park and nature (which I was shockingly excited about), and I have been living my whole life wanting to visit the southwest, specifically New Mexico. And I also have been sort of dying to make a stop at a sustainable community, or go to Burning Man, or sit on some rocks on the Pacific coast and gaze stoically into the water as the sun sets and dolphins and whales jump under rainbows. And then the cast of "The OC" throws us a beach bonfire and we snuggle up in sweatshirts and quilts and listen to some hippie playing acoustic guitar until the sun comes up.

In short, Dustin and I wanted adventure and exploration, not relaxation and all-inclusiveness. And what better way to travel the US than in a rented RV or trailer?!

 

 


This unreal Airstream-themed engagement photo set is by the crazy-talented Leslee Mitchell.
My reaction = OMG.
 
 

It also fills the need of a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, AND has the wheels to get us everywhere. Unfortunately, Dustin had to get all logical (...typical) and bring up the fact that the cost of gas will outweigh any savings. And renting the RV itself will be pricey.

Translation: We would have to wait a few months after the wedding to go on the honeymoon. Whatever.

But then some new developments happened in recent weeks: First, we found out that a group of our best friends are hankering to go on a BFF getaway cruise in late February/early March-ish to somewhere warm with tropical drinks in coconuts. Clearly, we don't want to be the odd ducks out, and clearly we don't want to miss out on the shenanigans that are sure to happen.

However, if we were to go on this trip with the friends, it would likely count as the honeymoon. Before the wedding.

And then on top of that, Dustin just called me literally 10 minutes ago and told me he found a no-expiration Las Vegas hotel special, and for $99 he got a weekend suite, a Visa gift card, and some gambling chips, which I am sure to love because I pretend to know roulette. And what does my typically analytical, perpetually researching, look-before-he-leaps groom-to-be do?

He buys the special. Surprise! Looks like we're going to Vegas at some point.

So the question is, when to go on the honeymoon? And even more importantly, where to honeymoon? My ideal scenario: Go on the BFF getaway cruise in March, get married in June, head to Vegas for a long weekend after, and then do our adventurous road trip the following year.

Sure, it's a lot to think about, but let me tell you that just one short week ago I was damning our mortgage, complaining that we don't travel enough, and swearing that my womb will remain barren until we go on some trips and not waste our younger years.

And now look: We have ourselves three possible trips to plan in the coming months. Praise the Law of Attraction or attribute it to the borderline-New-Age chanting I've been doing since my little I-want-to-vacation-or-die sob fest, whatever. Something worked.

Would you dare go on a pre-wedding honeymoon just three months before your wedding? Or is the whole purpose of honeymoon a post-wedding ritual I shouldn't mess with? If I indeed do the friends cruise in March-ish, do you think a post-wedding getaway is absolutely necessary, even if it's just for a few days?

Pardon me, I have some trips to plan. Egads.

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie
 

 
Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

 

The Newlyweds And An Accidental Wedding Band

A THRIFTY IN WHITE EXCLUSIVE: Katy Perry & Russell Brand's wedding pictures!!!!!!!

 

 

Can you believe the paparazzi even caught them feeding each other cake?!

OK, seriously that's just Dustin and me dressing up as the newlyweds for our friends' annual celebrity-infused Halloween shindig. And guess what? Something wedding-y happened to us while we were getting ready, too:

While Dust and I were searching my costume jewelry collection for the perfect "wedding band" to complete his costume, we came across a small, 1.5mm silver band. It didn't fit his left ring finger (we had to actually use an adjustable toe ring for that...ew.) but it's just what I was looking for--for my real wedding band.

 

Pumpkin-hued nails and a possible wedding band that is entirely too big.

I have no idea where the ring came from, and at the moment it's in desperate need of a re-size, but it's exactly what I want. The skinny, plain silver band works for me because I want a simple look if I choose to wear it alone. Like when I'm ripping our landscaping out next spring. Or when I'm painting my office a lovely shade of sea foam. Or when I'm wearing mesh next Halloween and I don't want to risk snagging it.

But the most important reason is because I usually wear more rings than a gypsy, and I don't want my fingers to look more complicated and messy than they already are. No, really. I'm wearing five antique rings and my engagement ring right now. Having a huge, sparkly band would just ruin my whole look. Plus, this band would be free (with exception of re-size cost).

Before we commit to anything, we're going to head to some antique shops and take a gander at some other wedding band options. Dustin sort of likes titanium bands with wood inlays (similar to this), but I think he should get something a little more chic. Or don't men do "chic?" Hmm.

Anyhoodle, did everyone have a great Halloween? Any good parties? Hand out lots of candy? EAT lots of candy? I did the latter for sure. And what does everyone think about wedding bands? It's Monday...are you even alive?

And PS: National Novel Writing Month starts today! My feelings about this: Nervous, terrified, sick, overwhelmed, etc. I'm thanking my lucky stars for Mallory and Jen, fellow wedding bloggers and NaNoWriMo participants, and I hope they prepare themselves for a month of nonsensical e-mails at all hours of the night.

 

Stay Thrifty!
Hollie

Man of honor Brett as DEXTER = holy crappola. The best costume ever!

Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!

Meet The Brettzilla.

I have a confession to make: I knew that my dad and brother weren't real -zillas when I interviewed them. But this next character in the Dustin & Hollie Wedding Saga? I'm not so sure.

Meet Brett, my best friend and our MAN of HONOR. He's also going to double as a ring bearer because we're forcing him to carry down a little dish with the rings in for a ring blessing ceremony. (More on that later.)

 

THAT CUTE FACE!!!!!!!!
And those gold BUTT-BOWS!!!!!!

 

Let me tell you a little more about one of OUR favorite friends and the source of the longest Thrifty in White post EVER:

Pure, Unapologietic, Polaroid-ish Ramblings

I've been a busy gal this last week, folks.

I was busy buying my second pair of TOMS, busy going to a Hanson concert and screaming like a 13-year-old teenybopper, busy dancing like a krump dancer on So You Think You Can Dance...in public, and busy fighting with the refrigerator because it seems to have a mind of its own. Unfortunately, it just so happens to be on the fritz one second after we stocked up on bulk everything from Sam's Club. I will mourn the loss of our ginormous bottle of Salsa Ranch, I can assure you.

And yes, I've been a little lax on the blog updates because I've been living up the last few weeks of summer. It's so sad, isn't it? One day I'm cursing the humidity and the number it's doing on my hair, and the next I'm wearing a cardigan to work. Heartbreaking, really. Chicago winter, we aren't ready for you. Please, oh please be mild.

So anyway, for the sake of this post having a point, here's a picture that I'm using as a sort of engagement session inspiration (because we're taking them in, oh, two months-ish):
 
 

PHOTO: Polaroid Lurve by Seth Morris Photography

Some background on this: I have a completely loving relationship with Polaroid pictures. Anybody remember the Polaroid i-Zone sticky film camera from 1999-ish? Instant photos that were actually...stickers?!
 
 

PHOTO (source): The ever-so-cool Polaroid i-Zone, which I spent many hours pining for.
 
 

Well, I always wanted one. And I never got it. Looking back now, it was probably a good thing, because I would have gone through the pricey film cartridges in a hot second with a thousand pictures of a cat to show for it. And I mean, really, how many i-Zone stickers can you have of a cat?

But I never lost that loving feeling. I shook it like a Polaroid picture many a time listening to OutKast, was uber-jealous of people with a Polaroid camera hanging around their neck on vacations, and eventually had a "Weekend de la Polaroid" party with my friends:
 
 
 

      
PHOTOS: The "Weekend de la Polaroid" pictures, thanks to my bff Brett (on the left) who found
an old Polaroid camera in his mom's classroom. LE SIGH, what a fun weekend. Also, everyone
in the BFF picture on the right also happens to be in our wedding party. Do I smell a
"Weekend de la Polaroid Part Deux" in the making?

 
 
So I'm thinking that Dustin and I need to bust out a Polaroid camera for our engagement photos. Yes? Good idea? Hold out a kissing picture while we're kissing? Lay in a park, surrounded by a pile of funny photos of us? Do this at the wedding using all of the photos?:

PHOTO (source):  I. Love. This.

And this, my friends, is a DIY project I know I can handle. Because--fun fact--this is how we used to decorate our dorm room walls in college. There's only so much you can do with those drab, white walls.
 

Wow...how did we go from my week's rundown to this obsession? This can only mean one thing: It's time to schedule our engagement photos. Where is this long engagement going, seriously?

 
Anybody doing anything cool this week? Making any wedding-y decisions? Getting hitched soon? I know AZinAugust is, yah!
 

 
Thrifty love,
Hollie

Follow us on Twitter: @ThriftyinWhite
And we're finally on Facebook!