Yikes! I meant to post yesterday, but between my first wedding gown fitting (yahoo!) and an impromptu mother of the bride shopping trip on the way home (where we were very successful!), it slipped through the cracks. Never the less, here I am, and here are my ideas for personalizing a groom’s formal look :)

While a classic tuxedo leaves less room for personality than, say, a suit and tie combo, there are definitely still ways to make one your own.

John isn’t wearing a cummerbund, but for those who are, I like the idea of embroidering initials on the edge:

Embroidering initials and your wedding date on the inside jacket pocket – so sweet!

For groomsmen, you could tweak the inside-pocket-embroidery and leave clever messages like “rings go here” or “toast goes here.”

My favorite might be these embroidered, initialed cuffs – such a small detail, but it looks so sharp!

Which one would you pick? Also, does anyone have any suggestions for great embroidery resources in the Triangle? :)

Images from top to bottom: Studio222 via Southern Weddings, Lisa Poggi, A Bryan Photo via SW, Ali Harper via SW, and Maggie Harkov via SMP

I think I’ve mentioned before that John and his gents will be wearing tuxedos on the big day. Unlike some ladies, this required no arm-twisting on my part: a tuxedo was what he wanted to wear, so a tuxedo is what he shall wear. Yay!

Erin Hearts Court

We decided early on that we wanted to buy instead of rent a tuxedo for John for three main reasons:

1) Buying means you can tailor, which means a better fit.
2) We already know John needs to wear a tuxedo twice this summer, which means it begins to make more sense financially to buy instead of renting multiple times.
3) It can be hard to match a specific aesthetic when renting.

A Bryan Photo

We also decided fairly quickly that we didn’t want the gents to wear a vest (too prom) or a cummerbund (too annoying), but suspenders, instead. And a basic black (self-tied) bow tie, of course. The other specifics, like a shirt with a point collar, a two-button jacket, and a peak lapel, we chose based on this oh-so-stylish advice, and on examining the J.Crew tuxedo, which is out of our price range but undeniably handsome.

Charlotte Jenks Lewis

But where to find this stylish-but-reasonably-priced gem of a tuxedo? Happily, Marget’s fiance, Seth, had already done extensive research on this very topic, and pointed us in the direction of the Tommy Hilfiger tuxedos at Macy’s. He had purchased one for himself previously, and vouched for the quality and fit. On the day we cruised over to the Macy’s site to check things out, the tuxedo that caught our eye just so happened to be 66% off! With free shipping and free returns, we didn’t hesitate to snap one up in John’s size (after much confusion over measurements – fingers crossed it fits!). For those that are curious, we bought this jacket and these pants, and this shirt. We’re planning to pick up the bow tie, suspenders, and shoes at a later date. Macy’s runs sales ALL the time, so if you like the look of this guy, check back often!

Jen Huang (left) and Jose Villa

We’re still waiting for everything to arrive in the mail, but maybe John will let me snap a pic for you once the whole thing comes in! In the meantime, I’ve been collecting some fun ways for grooms to personalize their look, and I’ll be sharing those tomorrow.

Speaking of future sisters in law, Marget and I hit up my local flea market during her visit to NC last weekend. It was a pretty meager day, but I did come home with one thing – this pair of vintage pin frogs, for $8 total.

Pin frogs, or floral frogs, are meant to be used in the bottom of vases to hold flower stems in place while arranging.

Clockwise from top left: Erin Hearts Court via 100 Layer Cake, A Bryan Photo, and Chad Wadsworth via Camille Styles

We might use them at the wedding, to hold some sort of signage, but right now I’m enjoying using them for a few favorite photographs. The teeth are perfect for holding them upright!

Yes, that is a bonafide senior prom photo :)

Have a wonderful Easter weekend, friends!

[Note: I am offering a downloadable PDF of this invitation in my Etsy store!]

After getting inspired and nailing down a few details, it was time to whip up some invitations for my future sister in law’s bridal shower! After coming across this pin, I knew I had my jumping off point. I played around in Illustrator until I had a design I was happy with, and this is what I came up with!

The fonts I used were Brandon Grotesque (the sans serif) and Baskerville (the italic, the same one used by Kate Spade itself!).

I originally intended for the invitation to be two single-sided pieces of paper held together with a brad of some sort, but as I was formatting everything for printing, I realized it would be better (and cheaper!) to print it double-sided. I used UPrinting for the job and was very pleased with the results. I did have to do some fiddling around with my file to make sure everything was aligned correctly, so don’t be discouraged if you have to do the same! The card size is 4.25×6 inches, on 13 pt uncoated cardstock.

Let me tell you, it’s worth it to have things professionally printed just so you don’t have to cut each piece to size by hand!! With a double-sided project, that was an especial relief.

I jazzed the invitations up a little more by hand-gluing gold sequins to each one. I know that sounds time-consuming, but it really wasn’t! Here’s the side by side comparison:

I ordered raspberry A6 envelopes from Paper Presentation, and was so relieved when they were a perfect color match.

Initially, my thought was to punch a heart-shaped cut-out in the flap of every invite, glue a square of gold glitter paper to peek through, and then line the envelopes to make everything neat. Well, after buying and returning two separate heart punches from the store, neither of which could punch through the glitter paper, I gave up and cut out the hearts by hand. I still think I came pretty close to my inspiration, and I’m happy with how they turned out!

I also ended up sealing the envelopes with two strips of black and white striped washi tape, and I like the graphic pop they lent.

Happily, I had a gold paint pen already in my crafty stash, so once I penned the addresses, these babies were done! Here’s a look at the whole shebang:

What do you think – Kate Spade worthy?

Budget Breakdown:
Printing and shipping of 25 double-sided cards from UPrinting: $22.76
25 A6 envelopes from Paper Presentation: $6.25 (I got free shipping because I ordered several other items at the same time)
One sheet of gold glitter paper from Michaels: $1

The sequins, Elmer’s glue, gold pen, and washi tape were all already in my stash, so I’m not going to include them in my count. For me, then, these pretty packages worked out to $1.36 each – not bad, I’d say!