we are today's wedding of the day on weddingchannel.com

{ collage via weddingchannel.com }

this crazy world. we had so much fun with our amazing photographers (max + margaret of unusually fine!), and they asked if they could submit our photos out to blogs before i posted them here, and ... of course!

and that's how we ended up as a wedding of the day on weddingchannel.com. wild.

the gallery the editors put together lists just some of our amazing people and resources, which i plan to write about individually over the next few weeks -- it's hard to express just how thankful i am --

our wedding and everything you see in these photos is the combined effort of so many people -- painstaking and herculean labors, performed by joyous, patient, loving-beyond-words friends and family -- every photo from that day has a story, a labor, and love behind it, and i hope to tell you a few of them that do justice to the photos that max + margaret have made, also with love, by hand.

and -- max + margaret, you know how we feel. thank you.
more stories to come.

love, actually

{ book love photography print by heatherkingdesigns }

it has been a while, all. first, i've been spending all my free time working on an amazing project for our friend's dad. he's in his early 80s and has written his wife a daily poem for many years, leaving little notes for her as he left the house early in the morning. some are funny, some sad, most rhyme, and almost all are unabashed love poems.

so we're making and printing a book with more than 200 of them, with his photography, and it's just so cool. complicated, but almost done.

his epigram is a quote from obama's speech in tucson, AZ:

"Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in a while, but every single day?"

it's so moving to meet someone who actually does this, who can answer a joyous, buoyant YES, i tell her. i write it in a new way, every day.

makes you think: what gesture, what small thing could we do so that when we hit our 80s we still make out and hold hands and make poetry books for our anniversary?

also: making a book is not (too) hard! i hope to write up a post of what i've learned for anyone wanting to make an album or book of their wedding, honeymoon, love stories. more soon.

xo,
j

verizon fail: no internets chez etsy wedding

{each photo links to its shop}

hi all -- plz excuse the silence, our internets are down at home. since thursday. failed DSL modem. after many hours of wrangling, i think this may be fixed tomorrow.

in the meantime, here are a couple of upbeat thoughts:



xoxj

our day, a bit at a time

a quick note to say: thank you all for your congratulations and the warm welcome back!

it has been a spotty year of blogging. i honestly don't know how people manage to write a wedding blog WHILE they're planning a wedding, and do anything else. my hat is off to all of you who do. i can multitask with the best of them, but good lord.

so for those interested, now that i have slightly more time on my hands, i thought i'd tell a few personal wedding tales over the next couple of months. nothing too crazy, so those of you here for, i don't know, actual shopping advice, you can skip these -- i will file under the tag 'our day'.

i'll also highlight a few of the wonderful artists who helped us pull it off, in hopes that you will shower them with the love and american dollars they deserve -- they helped make it happen, and i'm endlessly grateful.

i'm also grateful to *you*. thanks to all of you who read -- especially for understanding i'm not a fancyblogger yet. just one person with a new husband, demanding day job, neglected etsy business of my own, and big hopes and dreams. i write this blog (when i manage to!) between the hours of 10pm and 2am, because i love art and artists and handmade things, and because you all make it worthwhile by actually going and connecting and supporting them.

thank you again for choosing to spend your time here, and your dollars on something made with love.
more soon!
xoj

new (australian!) press: bride to be magazine interview on "CIY" weddings

{ crafty article in Bride To Be, australian wedding magazine }

so excited! Amy Collins-Walker contacted me over the summer for a DIY (or CIY, craft-it-yourself) article in australia's Bride to Be magazine, bridetobe.com.au/ -- and i just got the pdf at the end of last month. hooray!

the article itself isn't posted online, but i have permission to post the pdfs!

to read, let's test out google docs. here's the link for the article itself, as well as a beautiful CIY wedding with details.
let me know if these don't work!

and thanks so much to Amy and to Bride to Be, i do so enjoy giving my opinions. ;)

married!

we are so happy.

stay tuned, everyone!
etsy wedding gears up again starting 9.25.

there *is* a patron saint of wedding procrastinators...

{ hand-cast st. expedite medal by rosamystica }

my readers, i am sorry to have been away so long. i will come back soon. i also promise, as my VERY NEXT POST, the winner of the giveaway that i never managed to post before i went on unintended vacation/hiatus. this blog is something i do between the hours of 10pm and 2am, and i thank you all for your extreme patience as i ramp back up on my labor of love.

in the meantime, i learned something amazing while searching for "procrastination" on etsy -- did you know there is a (possibly apocryphal) saint expeditus, patron saint of procrastinators and people needing speedy solutions to problems? i had NO IDEA. all these years. for any of you wayward brides like myself, this has its appeal.

up soon, a longish meta-entry this week writing about not writing about my wedding. and maybe (gasp!) some etsy items! and i have a fabulous giveaway or two waiting in the wings, if i can get my act together, ship a magazine, and find out what freaking length dress my fiance's mother is wearing so my mom will stop sending me 26 and counting photos of options for her dress. ma. i love you.

for now, my dears, let me take a moment of awed silence for all of you who are planning your weddings in a sane and structured way, and a moment of YOU CAN DO IT for those of you (like me) who are boshing this together as best you know how, with love.

five. hundred. posts.

{each photo links to its shop}

holy moly. logged in and was struck by the number 499. 499 posts. what?

not nearly enough to keep up, especially this last year, but it's a nice milestone to celebrate. yay!

got me to thinking. what kinds of things can you get on etsy for $500?
here's a little bonus sampler of $500 treasures, in case you're feeling flush:






{each photo links to its shop}

i mean, come on. four-foot fiberglass banana! i heart you, etsy.

thanks to you all for sticking with me.
xoj

calling vegas photographers!

{ welcome to fabulous las vegas print by toucanne }

anyone know of (or are you!) a photographer willing to come meet us for an hour on thursday or friday *this week* for an engagement shoot in vegas?

(mom, we're not eloping, i swear!)

similar to my boston post, which is how we met the amazing emily sterne, for your time and trouble i can offer you a permanent text link on the blog, a post about you and the experience, and dinner if you'd like it!

we're nice people, i promise. let me know in comments or etsywedding (at) gmail, and thanks everyone for your help with this last-minute idea!

xoj

so happy together

{ set of two "happy" vintage champagne glasses by annietwobraids }

sorry for the lag in posting,  i've been happily:

• shipping a magazine
• buying (and returning) (and reordering) a wedding dress (!)
• entertaining an dear friend in town for the weekend
• carboloading
• running the capitol hill classic 10k (!!)

and... we booked a venue and have a date. america! F*#! yeah!

blogging will be slow this week due to day job, but i promise to post the custom watercolor map giveaway results.

thanks for reading!
xoj

a message?

is my mail trying to tell me something?

southwestern sampler: santa fe wedding

{each photo links to its shop}

forgive the slow posting, am out west introducing my fiance to my father (!) and his family.

dad: he can ski! he can drive a stick. he likes surf guitar. he's in.

so far so good. back wednesday!