Groom-zilla – part I

I am sure most of you girls have encountered a glimpse of her…

THE BRIDE-ZILLA…

Urban dictionary defines her as one ridiculous spoiled b**** that thinks she is the center of the universe, just because her “show” (the wedding) is 18 months from now…

(photo: www.sheknows.com)

but have you ever encountered a GROOM-ZILLA?

I mentioned in my first “Tuesday’s With Tim” post, that I was married on Nantucket last year with photography by the incomparable Zofia Crosby of Zofia and Co.

 I was NOT really a Groom-zilla.  I wasn’t yelling or crying the whole time or anything like that, (maybe I raised my voice once or twice ;)) but I was very detailed, organized and obsessed.  The big joke was “You’re Out!”, which refers to me jokingly uninviting most people for one reason or another, including my fiancé. The other joke was D.T.T. or  “Don’t Tell Tim,” which most of the wedding party and vendors coded and used when something had the potential to go wrong.

EXAMPLE:

“One of those picture frames fell over and  broke!”

“Hide it!  Put it in the oven! D.T.T!!!”

 I would like to share with you all three areas of the wedding where my attention to detail was maybe a little over the top, that I MAYBE could have  been seen as a Groom-zilla.  I guess it’s for you to decide…  However, both of the examples in this post today are great DIY projects you can use for any party or event. :)

1. THE INVITATIONS – MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

 The fifteen months of planning our wedding was something off of a reality TV show.    James, my husband, once joked that every detail I wanted was the hardest thing to achieve.  Since I was so particular, we did so many things ourselves.  For example, I wanted messages in a bottle for our invitation.  After days of researching online, I felt the bottles I found were a little too kitschy for me because I wanted them to be creative, but still elegant. We tried about 10 different types of paper, but I was discouraged on how crinkled the paper got when I rolled it and put it in the bottle. James came up with the idea of using cotton and linen fabric. After we tested one and it was exactly what I envisioned I laughed and said, “This is why I am marrying you!” This was the process. We bought yards of white linen fabric and white cotton fabric at our local store. We cut out each piece to the correct size, soaked the pieces in starch to make them stiffer, let them dry, ironed freezer paper on the back, cut off the threads, ran it through the printer with the design we created, cut the excess threads again, removed the freezer paper, rolled it tightly with a pencil, tied it with string, put it in the bottle, wrapped the bottle in bubble wrap, put it in the box, wrapped the box in white craft paper, and had a calligrapher address the boxes.  Repeat 120 times!  We will never have those hours and hours and hours back, but the final product was worth it!

 

2. CORAL BALLOONS

During all my research while planning this wedding, I fell in love with a picture of a couple holding balloons on a beach. There was something about a cluster of balloons that I found whimsical, yet very classic.  Balloons are another example of something that should have been an easy detail to get, but proved difficult.

The colors for our wedding were coral, white and pale gray.  Let me interject here and tell you something about me and the color “coral.” Coral can mean different things to different people.  Is it orange? Is it pink? Is it red? Is it bright? Is it dark?

I do not like the color orange…  It’s actually my least favorite color.  I think its because I hated Orange starbursts candies as a young boy…  I also didn’t want a pink wedding!   Anyway, I was very specific about the color “coral” that would be used.  Not orange, not pink, but coral!!!!  Does that make sense to anyone else? Sorry, Groom-zilla moment!

 I wanted coral and white balloons to match the wedding party’s bouquets, but the color coral does not exist in the balloon world.  Who knew? So we started researching how to attain this color.  After trying a dozen different combinations at our local party store, we found that by inserting a 100% latex orange balloon into a 100% latex pearl pink balloon would give you a coral balloon.  The orange inside the pink in the sunlight comes through just enough to get that specific coral color.  This process could work to make any color, so just start mixing balloons to get your wedding or event specific color.

Tune in next week for Groom-zilla: Part II, where I will share the thing that took the most years off my life planning the wedding:  Finding a dress for the 13 girls in our wedding party! :) (dramatic music)

See you next Tuesday!