A Good Marriage

Okay, so I’m guilty of posting this late and back dating it, but I’m trying to stick with my weekly schedule of Thankful Thursday one way or another.

This week I am thankful for having a good marriage. No, a GREAT marriage and a wonderful partner. On November 1 Andy & I will be celebrating our 1-year anniversary and I couldn’t be happier. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had so many consecutive days of being happy. And as he always says, “we’ve got a lot of life to live.” I can only hope so.

To celebrate we will be headed to the beautiful little town of Galena this weekend to walk downtown, maybe do some shopping, tour a mansion, enjoy a little wine tasting, maybe catch the Halloween Parade and I cannot believe it,  but Andy agreed to a Haunted Dinner & Ghost Tour! =) See, I told you he’s the best!

What are you thankful for today?

Cupcake Stand Factory

That’s what our house has felt like this past week. By request, I designed two more sizes so now we have small, medium, and large cupcake stands! We just shipped out a medium stand last week to a customer in California and we’re shipping a large stand to a baker in Maryland and a small stand to someone near Chicago! Whew!

Handy Andy has been a great instructor teaching me how to use a bunch of his fun power tools. (I was a little scared I might saw a finger off but so far so good!) I don’t have near the patience he has so I had a couple bad hours as I got over the learning curve and was about to yank this item entirely. Since he did most of the construction on the last couple stands I had NO IDEA how much work actually went into these babies.  But, Andy got me through it and once I saw the finished product I realized it’s totally worth it.

We’re continuing to find new ways to improve the quality and process and we enjoy working on them so for now we’ll keep on making ‘em. How do you like our latest creation:

This is our newly designed small stand. It has three tiers – 20″, 15″, 10″ and should hold approximately 75 cupcakes. Or, about 65 cupcakes and a small cake on top. I am loving the zebra print!

Truly an Honor

Despite the random weather this weekend, we managed to have a successful outdoor wedding this weekend for my friends Wendy and Jason. And while I have always been deathly afraid of public speaking, I am happy to report that I was able to perform the wedding ceremony without any fear whatsoever. It was like I was a natural born minister. Weird, I know. =)

The whole day was a bit chaotic though, I was running around putting out fires the entire time. But it was great. I really am proud of myself for being able to think on my feet and help facilitate the event without having done more planning ahead of time. And I can’t believe I wasn’t scared a bit to be in front of so many people. I think because I knew it wasn’t about me…they weren’t there to watch and judge me, but to watch and support Wendy and Jason. And that’s why I was there; My job was to make sure they had the best day possible and I think they did.

Here are a few random things that happened:

• Poor Jessica had to spend 3.5 hours getting her hair, nails and eyebrows done that morning b/c she got stuck with a new girl! (Jess was NOT happy!)
• Stephanie’s dress was a couple inches too long so I took it up the morning of the wedding.
• All the girls needed their dresses steamed so thank goodness I got a Tobi steamer for my wedding last year!
• The girls were about to jump in the limo when I counted the bouquets and realized we were one short. Just call me Laura Martha “MacGyver” Stewart-Meckley  because I quickly looked around, grabbed some leftover flowers, a ponytail band, some floral tape & ribbon and whipped together a make-shift bouquet. It didn’t match the rest perfectly, but I honestly don’t think anyone noticed.
• LOL – Demitrios (a groomsman) came over to me to help put on his boutonniere and he said, “I told everyone to come see you because whatever we can do Laura can do better!” (Thanks for the vote of confidence D!)
• The stupid wind blew the aisle runner all over the place so we grabbed it and the guests put a foot on it while Wendy came down the aisle.
• The sand ceremony vase broke as the kids were pouring in their sand.
• The Best Man couldn’t get the ring off his finger!
• We had no electricity in the park so we had to use a little CD Player that skipped a bit with the crazy wind.
• I was able to contain myself during the ceremony, but did cry a bit during the sand ceremony while SarahJayne sang Ave Maria.
• I was so excited at the end of the ceremony I was nearly screaming “Ladies & Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to give you MR. & MRS. JASON & WENDY FARNSWORTH!!”  (I almost busted out with spirit fingers and a Russian, but I did manage to contain myself to a point)
• When the wedding party arrived at the reception and sat at the head table, Jessica (one of the bridesmaids) came over and said “Help! Everyone is asking me what we’re supposed to do, I don’t know! What ARE we supposed to do?” So, I jumped into action, consulted my trusty itinerary I created and tried to wrangle them up to cut the cake and get photos. Afterwards I dismissed tables for dinner, got everyone ready for their speeches, prepped the DJ for their dances, and ran back to cut & serve the cake. Then I danced and drank heavily the rest of the night. I was told by a few that I’m “the coolest minister they had ever met!”
• When we realized the DJ was not truly prepared for the wedding (in his defense, he’s not really a DJ but a bandmember with some DJ equipment who was nice enough to fill in last minute since the original DJ backed out…I know, what’s with these people backing out?!) we sent Handy Andy home to get his hard drive of 50,000+ songs so we had a nice variety of music.

All in all, it was fine. Everyone had a good time and most importantly, the new Mr. & Mrs. enjoyed themselves. I had a few people half joking, half serious tell me “If I ever get married you are HIRED!” and I had one girl (sort of a friend of a friend) who is pretty serious ask me if I would consider doing her wedding. I told her I would think about it. I had a great time doing Wendy’s wedding but I never had plans of making this my new career.

Truth be told, I loved every minute of it. I loved the planning, the coordinating, the excitement, the smiles, the tears, just everything. My friends think I’m crazy, but I honestly had a great time. We laughed, we cried, we had a blast. It was an amazing day that I will remember for as long as I live. It truly was an honor.

Now, I will use my minister powers to pray that my group of friends will return from Mexico in good health.

I Love Weddings!

We loaned our giant cupcake stand to our friends a couple weeks ago and it looked pretty awesome!!!

Shameless plug: Handy Andy is for hire to make your very own Giant Cupcake Stand!
Or, don’t forget if you have your own version of a Handy Andy at home you can make your own!

The Seifferts were nice enough to hire me to make their programs, favor tags in addition to the invitations!

I also did some fun decals for the reception and the get away car. Please forgive my feeble attempt at snapping  a photo, my camera is on its last leg. The Seifferts promised me some good shots from their photographer, so stay tuned for those!.

FYI

I recently did some touch up painting to our cupcake stand because we’re loaning it to our friends for their upcoming wedding and we then are selling it to another bride afterwards. Wanted to let you all know I’ve added more info and photos on my old post if you want to make your own  giant cupcake stand!

She Asked Me to Marry Her…and I Said Yes!

Well, not EXACTLY…. Let me explain.

Remember I told you my good friend Wendy was getting married in May and asked me to be her personal attendant? Yeah, well I got a frantic call from her this afternoon. Her officiant had just called and told her that he was very sorry but could not perform her marriage, he had other plans that day.

GASP!!!!!

I was in the midst of working on homework so I gladly pushed that stuff aside and went to work doing what I do best…poking around on the Internet. I immediately sent a mass e-mail to all local officiants to see if anyone had May 16th open to do a wedding. Nevermind that May is like the most popular month ever to have a wedding…but what else could I do?? I mean, I couldn’t marry them. Or could I….? Guess what?

YOU BET I CAN!!!

According to the Universal Life Church I sure can. Does that sound oddly familiar to you? Maybe you’re thinking of when Joey became an ordained minister so he could marry Monica and Chandler. Here…listen, Phoebe will tell you all about becoming an ordained minister via the Internet.

I sent Wendy an email explaining that I sent out an SOS to all the local officiants but if it came down to it I would get myself ordained so she wouldn’t have to worry any more. I was half joking, half serious; come on guys…she’s one of my oldest and dearest friends. Of course I would do that for her.

She replied with:

I WANT  YOU! I REALLY DO THINK IT WOULD BE
GREAT IF YOU DID!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!
I’m really serious about you doing it. It would be the greatest thing in the whole world! But if you would rather not…I know you’re a very busy girl…
WENDY

So, just moments ago, I got myself ordained. Yep. That’s right ladies and gentlemen…say hello to Reverend Laura Meckley!

Congratulations! You are now a legally ordained minister for life, though you may relinquish your credentials at any time. AS OF Saturday the 28th of February 2009 YOU HAVE BECOME A MEMBER OF THE PRESTIGIOUS CLERGY. You have earned a title worthy of admiration and respect.
Let it be known on this date that in accordance with the laws of the Universal Life Church Monastery, as ordaining officer, I, Brother Martin, do ordain you into our ministry. From this day forward, you are entitled to all of the rights of an ordained minister. You have the authority to perform marriages, baptisms, and all other ceremonies of the church. You are an independent minister of this church. This is a position that carries with it a burden of responsibility; please respect others and comply with the laws of the land.

There you go Wendy! I’m already going to be at the wedding…If you need me to make this monkey official let’s do this!

(Just let me make a quick a call to the courthouse and confirm it will be legal in Scott county!)

The Latest with elle Z designs

I cannot wait to get done with classes so I can spend more time on my business. I’ve been meeting with brides to help design the perfect invitations for their wedding.  I’m excited to announce that I am in the process of becoming a licensed Dealer/Designer for Envelopments! It will be a perfect compliment to my line of premium DIY invitation kits. I’m also working on updating my business website which will be a fully functioning (I hope!) e-commerce site.

Stay tuned for more!

Giant DIY Cupcake Stand

Here’s a great project for all you crafty brides with crafty husbands-to-be!! Design your own cupcake stand – I promise it will be a big hit!

 

 

 Don’t have the time or resources to make your own? Now you can order your very own custom made stand! (We also have other sizes available.) This tutorial has become so popular we are currently working on multiple versions for other sizes with much more detail and LOTS more photos, tips & tricks. If you would like to be contacted when these instructions are available, please e-mail me and let me know.

Tracey, a reader who used our tutorial, was nice enough to provide me with a metric version! You can obtain those instructions here. Thanks Tracy! And have a look at her beautiful stand…didn’t they do a fabulous job?!

 

Materials List

49″ x 97″ x 3/4″ MDF Board (1 sheet)

Cut to size:

32″ x 32″ (2 pieces)

24″ x 24″ (2 pieces)

17″ x 17″ (2 pieces)

12″ x 12″ (2 pieces)

4″ x 2′ PVC (2 pices)

4″ PVC Coupling (4 each)

1/2″ 6′ All Thread Rod (1 piece)

1/2″ Hex Nuts (2 each)

Paint

1/2″ Flat Washer (2 pieces)

6-8 Knobs (to put on the bottom for feet)

2 yards of 44″ or wider fabric

32″ x 40″ Foam Board (1 piece)

Cut to size:

23 1/8″ x 4 1/8″ (2 pieces)

16 1/8″ x 4 1/8″ (2 pieces)

11 1/8″ x 4 1/8″ (2 pieces)

*NOTE: You will need to cut 2 pieces of foam core slightly smaller than the dimensions above so they all fit snug. I re-measure and update when I get a chance.

 Have Lowes cut the MDF board, then cut a small circle in the center of each piece. Put the threaded rod through layers of the MDF board and PVC. (Notice that you don’t have to paint the top and bottom of everything, only parts that will show.

Countersink a hole in the top so the threaded rod does not stick out. You can add a nice piece of acrylic, or another board or something on top if you wish but it’s not necessary.

We routered the undersides of the layers so we could slip the panels in and out. You can skip the routering if you don’t intend to change the fabric panels.

Lay out the foam board and cut the fabric a couple inches larger. Wrap the fabric around the panels and adhere with a strong glue. Let dry, then slide into the routered grooves.

Add the knobs at the bottom for feet and you’re ready to go! Keep in mind this thing is somewhat heavy, and large:

You will definitely need a truck to transport it fully assembled. But, it’s easy enough to tear apart and reassemble if necessary.

Please send me photos if you make one and we’ll feature it on our site!!

DIY “Here Comes the Bride” Bridal Banner

I just finished an order for a “Here Comes the Bride” Banner  so I thought it was a perfect time to make a tutorial for those interested in making their own! Read more

Speaking of Weddings…

Desipte the fact that I never did settle on a cake topper design for my own wedding cake, (a big thank you once again to Aunt Pam for taking care of that for me!) I’ve been working on some new designs for other brides. These nifty new creations are available in my etsy Shop and just might be featured at a local Hy-Vee. (I’m in good with one of the bakers :::wink:::)

The first one is a simple, sophisticated heart design personalized with the names of the bride and groom, or could accomodate a short verse too. I think I’ll add a nice border to accent the heart shape (like in the next example).

The second is a more custom piece that features a photo and a 3D cutout of the couple’s last name.

**My apologies as clear acrylic is quite difficult to photograph well. I promise they are much more stunning in person!

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