I say Cucumber, You say Sandwich

CUCUMBER.............                              !


CUCUMBER................                           !

You know that feeling when you have something super exciting happen but your day needs to continue as normal and you kind of forget about it.  But then every once in a while you remember and you do a spastic little dance while grinning like a Cheshire Cat.  That was me all day today!

Why was I breaking out into dance and maniacal laughter?  Bee-cause I am a Bee!! I got the email from Pengy at 11pm last night.  Thankfully I am a dork and was fast asleep by 9pm otherwise I never would have gotten in my full 9 hours.

doing what I do best!

When I finally opened the email this morning I immediately ran upstairs and jumped on Mr. Cucumber Sandwich like a kid at Christmas declaring “I AM A BEE!!  GET OUT OF BED SO WE CAN PICK OUR ICON.”  All morning I pranced around our house singing ‘I am a bee, I am a bee’ leading Mr. Cucumber Sandwich to hesitantly say ‘I’m a bee too’.  He is so adorable.  WE are bees!

Who are the Cucumber Sandwiches?  We met during/after college.  I was during, he was after.  Our first date was a cute little bookstore in downtown Washington, DC.  I told Mr. Cucumber Sammie I knew where it was, trying to act cool, but ultimately had no idea where I was going and had to take a cab what ending up being only 6 blocks from my house.  I still remember what I wore and what I ordered even though it was 6 years ago.  (Tan corduroys, green sweater and quesadillas). 

Mr. Cucumber Sandwich grew up near the coal mines of West Virginia and I am a suburbanite from just outside Philadelphia.  He likes to get a ‘feeling’ about something and I am a researcher/list maker!  He loves sports and I love Peyton Manning (only because he is cute).  We both love to snuggle on the couch with our chronically ill or injured puppy.  I refer to her as a ‘lemon’ but now she is our little ‘pickle sandwich’.

The Pickle

Why Miss Cucumber Sandwich?  Well I like to think of myself as cool as a cucumber.  Wow, I had trouble just writing that sentence because it is a complete lie.  Let’s try again.  Both the mister and I L.O.V.E. sandwiches.  We will put almost anything between two slices of bread; eggs, chicken, hot dogs, tuna and even spaghetti from time to time.  Not to mention the icon is completely adorable.

We are planning an October 2011 wedding at the southern most tip of New Jersey in historic Cape May.  Sandwiched between my birthday bash the night before the wedding (you read that right, my birthday is the day before our wedding) and our Victorian goodbye brunch we are going to have one amazing ceremony and reception!

I can’t wait to share with you all the details I have so lovingly obsessed over for the last 15 months.  

Stay Cool!  xoxox

Ms. Cucumber Sammie

Ch-ch-ch-changes

I got some exciting news yesterday..... I am going to be a bee!!  Just in case you aren't obsessively reading wedding blogs like I am, a bee is someone who writes for the website weddingbee.com 

I am so thrilled to be accepted but that means there might be some changes around the LemonPuppy.  First I am now going to be writing as Miss Cucumber Sandwich instead of Ms. LP.  Mr. LP is still taking his time to come up with the abbreviation he wants to use.  'A very important decision' he informs me. 

Also posting might be light the next couple of days while I give the weddingbee readers a chance to catch up on all the wedding plans.  I am sorry.  Don't worry I will be back soon in full force with lots of stories about bridal showers, the cookie table, embarrassing bachelorette invites, and of course the LemonPuppy.

Thank you all for reading these last couple of months!

xoxoxox

Diamonds are a Girl's BFF

Bring on the wedding jewels!  But first.....

If you are not getting married to me in October please follow me after the jump.

Jump!

I just wanna lay in my bed

My summer job at day camp started this week leaving me bone tired.  I don't know what it is about schedule changes but they make me exhausted.  I fell asleep last night at 8pm and it is a miracle I am still awake now.  This is my excuse for why my post is going to be really light tonight.  I haven't had the energy to complete any wedding tasks let alone get off the couch so I have nothing to share :(

I have tons of things coming up though.  I found some great jars for our cookie table.  I have a shower outfit to show you.  I have a fun project for our napkin rings and most of my wedding jewelry has arrived in the mail.  If you promise to come back tomorrow, I promise to show you.  Yes that is a bribe..... is it working?!?!

Just in case you are not completely enticed by the bribe, here is a little teaser.  Maybe visual is more your thing.

(source)

What could this mean?!?!  You will have to tune in tomorrow to find out!

Ebay Webay*

We have hit the double digit mark!  That means packages have been coming in all week.  Sometimes I don't even know what is in the boxes that are piling up on our porch.  Mr. Cucumber Sammie has given up asking me what I have ordered because often I can't remember until I open it.  He just doesn't understand all the things I need for the wedding!

Recently some of the packages have been trickling in from eBay!  Like many brides before me, I am collecting hankies for 'tears of joy'.

Image via Elizabeth Ann Designs/Photo by Kristyn Hogan

I have been stalking vintage hankie lots on ebay over the last couple of weeks and have managed to collect about 50 hankies.  Not all of them are usable so if I have 125 guests I probably need about 20 more.  I doubt our male guests will be climbing over themselves to get a vintage hankie.

Loves it

Yay!

I already have some favorites that I would hold for myself.... but MamaCS is fantastic and brought me back a lace hankie from their recent trip to Puerto Rico.  PapaCS grew up in Puerto Rico and I am so excited to have something from there for my wedding day.

I am still trying to figure out how to display them.  I could go for a loose knot.

Or maybe fold it in a square and tie it in a bow.

Bad bow

Or I could use twine and tie the hankies like a delicious pastry box.  I think that might be the winner.  I could put them all in a basket with an adorable sign!

Since I have been purchasing all these hankies on eBay, I wanted to share a couple of tips I have learned from PapaCS who is a master ebayer.  I thought I would have no problem scooping up some vintage hankies but apparently they are a hot little item on ebay.  I have no idea who is buying them besides brides but I guess you learn something new every day.  I am by no means an ebay expert but here is what I have picked up along the way.

1. Make sure it is worth it.  The hankies I usually looked at came in lots of 20 or more hankies.  The maximum I wanted to spend was $1 a hankie so I bid on large amounts of hankies at a lower price.

2. Sometimes you can get a deal on 'cutter' or 'crafter' hankies.  I guess they are hankies with imperfections.  Since the hankies are only going to be used for one day and might not even get selected, I am sure cutter hankies are completely fine.

3. Don't forget shipping and handling!  I almost purchased an amazing deal for hankies but then I saw the shipping was over $10.  That deal no longer looked as sweet so I let it go.

4. Think reasonably about what your maximum bid is before you start bidding.  It is sooo easy to get caught up in the moment and just keep bidding.  It is such a thrill to win that sometimes I had to stop myself from increasing my maximum just to 'win'.

5.  Wait until the last minute to bid!  I add items to my watch list and then with only about 45 seconds left in the auction, I bid.  I guess it is called auction sniping but I call it genius.  Waiting until the last possibly moment gives you an advantage because unless the other person is staring at the auction too it doesn't give them enough time to re-bid.  Sometimes it sucks because the auctions end at midnight or later but winning is always worth it!

Any ebay tips?  How should I fold the hankies?

*For about a day PapaCS and the Sammie Sisters were going to start an ebay company to sell other people's things.  They were going to call it "eBay, WeBay".  I have no idea what it means either.  Sammie sister wanted me to include that the name is trademark pending.

Sad Panda

Mr. LP and I have had our first RSVP decline and we haven't even sent out the invitations yet.  I was not naive enough to think that everyone we invited could make it to the wedding but their reason makes me a sad panda.

so sad (source)

They can't come to the wedding because our wedding is on a Sunday night and they can't get Monday off.  I am sure all weddings have the possibility of not being convenient every single guest but I feel a little sad and slightly guilty.


When we started our venue search, we knew Congress Hall was out of the budget but we (and by we, I mean me) R.E.A.L.L.Y. wanted to get married there.  The venue fit in our budget if we got married on a Friday or a Sunday so we compromised by picking a Sunday.  It is a holiday weekend so we hoped that most people would have Monday off but we knew there was a possibility that not everyone would.

We booked our venue so long ago and I don't think fully processed how a Sunday wedding would effect our guest availability.  I was just drunk on Congress Hall love.  I know our families wouldn't miss the wedding for the world but we didn't make it easy on anyone.  Now that the invitations are about to go out I am slightly regretting the decision to have the wedding on a Sunday.  I love our wedding and venue almost as much as Mr. LP but that doesn't stop me from having pangs of guilt that we picked a date which was suited us and not necessarily our guests.

It was almost as though we decided to 'cross that bridge when we came to it' about the Sunday night wedding.  Well we are at the bridge now and I feel guilty looking back at our guests.

Please tell me someone else has made a decision about the wedding that was totally about what you wanted and may be inconvenient for your guests?!?

Map Quest

I really want to show you something I am working on but it is a surprise for our invitations.  So if you aren't getting an invitation from us or hate surprises and Santa Claus please do not continue.

So I started working on my very own custom wedding map!  This project has been super easy and surprisingly kind of fun.  I began well before we had to submit our invites so I work on it a little bit each day and I am nearly there.  Since I am a woman who can't keep a secret to save her life, I wanted to show you my progress!

I started by finding approximately the area I wanted to use for my map in google maps.  Then I saved it and moved it to power point (my preferred photo editing software.... so advanced!).  I added stars for the cities and traced the major roads with black lines.  I played around with the shapes to add the road numbers and our little name plate.

Love Already!

 I obviously didn't want the googlemap to be the background.  I couldn't figure out how to color/fill it in with powerpoint so off to ms paint!

I simply used a big 'paint' brush and shaded in all the water blue and the land green.  Very complicated, I know.  I copied the picture and moved it back to powerpoint.  Once the photos were layered on top of each other I sent the streets to the back and moved my green and blue masterpiece to the front.  Viola!

I am still playing around with it and adding some fun things.  Like little fishes and playing around with fonts.

I can't wait to have these printed with our invitations.  I am going to put written directions on one side and the map on the other.  I knew I wanted to make a map but I am still shocked at how easy and fun it is turning out to be.

Any projects you got unusually excited about?  Suggestions for my glorious map?

Suit Fail!

The groomsmen suit search is turning out to be a disaster.  Who knew that you can't rent grey suits or grey tuxedos?!?  Alright, that might be a little dramatic but the pickings are slim.  Almost everywhere either has a tuxedo in a light grey or nothing.  I thought we had a suit picked and prematurely crossed groomsmen suits off my to do list but now it looks like we are back as square one. 

I left Mr. Cucumber Sammie (mistake #1; love you sweetie) in charge of finding the suits since he has way more experience in this area.  He searched all your typical sites like Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank.  After a night of looking, he declared the suits found.  Men are so efficient.  We made an appointment to see the suit in person at Jos. A. Banks this weekend.

As it turns out even though we had an appointment to see the suit they didn't have it in stock.  The salesperson just gave us a book of pictures of the various rental options.  We were told that we would have to order it to be able to see it in person.  Call me crazy but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  Pressing on, Mr. Cucumber Sammie decided he liked the suit and we would just move forward with ordering it.  The suit in question:

The Lexington Stroller {Jos. A Banks}

The picture makes the jacket seem more purpley than grey but trust me it is grey.  The only obstacle with the suit is the pants are a lighter color and striped.  I am not a fan but apparently Mr. Cucumber Sammie likes them.  He conceded and agreed to get the pants in plain grey to match the jacket.  While researching this post I figured out they don't give you the option of plain grey.  Uh oh.

After some quick searching I found they have another grey suit.

Jean Yves {Jos. A Banks}

Mr. Cucumber Sammie originally rejected that suit because of the shiny fabric on the lapel.  We might have to reconsider though because this is looking like one of our best options.  Is it too nit-picky to say no to a suit because of a tiny bit of fabric?

We do have a third option which is to have all the groomsmen buy a matching suit.  I noticed that a lot of the big suit stores are having buy one get one free sales or 50% off.  That might put some of these suits in the same price range as renting a tux.  But they get to keep it, bonus!  I could collect all their measurements and we could purchase all the suits at the same time to ensure matching.

I need your help!  Do I go with:
Option 1. The lexington stroller; the suit Mr. CS originally picked and I just let it go about the stripped pants?
Option 2. The Jean Yves; try to look past the lapel and hope I won't even notice it on the wedding day?
Option 3. Purchase suits; deal with the hassle of getting all the measurements and reimbursement but will probably have the best grey suit?

Please help!

LEGEN-wait for it- DARY

Thankfully groomsmen don't need as much time for attire as bridesmaids because we have been moving slowly on this one.  There used to be only one option for guys at a wedding.... the rental tuxedo!  I am so excited that Mr. Cucumber Sammie can have his pick of outfits now and doesn't just have to stick with the tux.

We could go with just vests:

Yes to Khaki {Image via Wedding Window/Photo from Shyla Photography}

Very Dapper!{Image via WedLoft/Photo by Megan W}

We could go with sports jacket over tan pants.  I think this look is adorable but it doesn't really fit Mr. CS, his groomsmen or our venue.  Oh well.

Love that orange tie {Image via TheKnot/Photo by Blue Daisy}

In the end though we decided to go with a grey suit.  A suit is more casual than the tux and I think grey is more of an early fall color than black.  Plus grey is one of our wedding colors... bonus!

Too Light {Image via Trend Setting Wedding/Photo by Red Ribbon Studio}

Just Right ({Image via TheKnot/Photo by Elizabeth Messina}

Originally we thought about having all the groomsmen just wear a grey suit.  Then we realized all the different color variations of grey (who knew?) and thought about having them all buy grey suits.  I have know a couple of brides who have done this; gotten all the measurements, gone to one of those buy 1 get 1 suit sales and just picked them all up to be reimbursed later.  We thought about doing that for a while but in the end we decided it would be easiest for Mr. Cucumber Sammie to buy his suit and the rest of the groomsmen to rent one.

So we were off to find a suit for Mr. CS!  On Memorial Day weekend we hit up the Premier Outlets hoping to capitalize on their huge sales.  With stores like Brooks Brothers, Burberry, Barney's Factory Outlet, and Off Saks we knew we would find a quality suit.  And what do you know, the first store we went in Mr. Cucumber Sammie found his suit!

Just like this.... only more handsome{Brooks Brothers}

He is getting a two button grey suit from Brooks Brothers.  It was originally about $400 and he got it for the low price of about $200.  Winning!  He won't tried it on for me because I think he is secretly keeping his wedding day outfit a surprise too.

Coming up... the joys of trying to find grey rental suits.

Websites to Wed By

Since we are having a semi-destination wedding, Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I decided that it would be helpful for our guests if we set up a wedding website.  At first the bridal side of my brain kicked in and I was convinced that I was going to build my own website from scratch!  I didn't earn that A in 7th grade typing for nothing.

I spent a couple of days googling 'how to build a website' and it just seemed way too complicated.  And there was a Real Housewives of Beverly Hills marathon on which was way more appealing.  After my realization that building a website with no prior experience was a crazy idea, I started searching for a template we liked.

I checked out MyWedding, TheKnot and Brides.  I was not thrilled with any of their templates.  I wanted something simple and that didn't look too much like a wedding website.  I wanted a wedding website that didn't look like a generic wedding website.  As I type that I realize how insane that sounds.  I also contemplated making my own template and website through blogger.  Mrs. Ostrich has a wonderful tutorial on how to build one.

Finally I found our perfect template at WeddingWire.  I was just about to give up and there it was... in our wedding colors..... and free!  Does it get any better than free when you are planning a wedding?

Glorious!

Mr. Cucumber Sammie and I spent a couple of nights adding our own content.  We wanted to get it out before our save the dates so it was just some quick pages.  We included: About Us, Directions, Accommodations, Registry, Contact Us and my favorite page Music Request.  Guests can fill out a form and send us their music requests.  Of course my lovely sisters sent things like Justin Bieber and Hanson.  They are so C U T E.

The final touch for our website was a custom domain name.  We wanted something easy for our guests to remember and short to put on the invites.  We purchased the domain through Godaddy.com.  It was incredibly easy and cheap.  I believe it was about $12 for the whole year.  And eventually I could move my blog to that name too.  Godaddy.com had instructions for how to mask the old name and direct guests from our custom domain.

In my mind having a custom domain makes it seem like we did a lot more work for this website than we really did.  Until I post this, guests might be really impressed with my computer skills!

Any projects you did that seem more ambitious than they really were?  Do you create a wedding website?

Cover Me

One of the many things I love about wedding planning is getting things in the mail.  It is no longer just bills and jcrew catalogs!  People are actually sending important things to me.  Now I have a reason to go through the mail instead of carrying it in from the mailbox and then letting it sit on the entrance table for days.  It is kind of thrilling.

I don't know anyone but a bride who could get excited about getting envelopes filled with envelopes in the mail.  But color me excited!  Our envelope samples arrived which means we are that much closer to finishing our invites.

I ordered two sets of sample envelopes.  One from Envelopes and one from Envelopemall.  First up; envelopes.com

Oooh so pretty

I ordered a sample of smoke, tan and grocery bag.  I am pretty sure I wanted the grocery bag/kraft paper but I order two other samples just to see.  From this batch I definitely like the grocery bag but the smoke is a strong contender!

And now from envelopemall.com. 

Almost the same exact order.  I order the size A7 envelopes in Starstream Anthracite, Genesis in Fossil and the Kraft paper.  The other two were nice but it just confirmed that I like the kraft paper.  Hopefully Mr. Cucumber Sammie agrees because I haven't run a single one of these options by him yet.... ooops.

Here are the two kraft options side by side.  I am sure their differences are obvious..... ok I lied they are exactly the same.  The one from envelopes.com came with at 10% off coupon which automatically had me leaning toward those.

Envelopes.com lets you order in multiples of 50 (50, 100, 150 etc) and envelopemall.com only has multiples of 100.  We eventually decided to get 200 envelopes from enevelopemall for a completely arbitrary reason I can't even remember any more. 

Have you gotten any fun packages in the mail recently?  Is it strange to devote an entire post to envelopes?

Kick off my Sunday Shoes

I am fully on board the colored shoes for brides bandwagon.  I might be even steering that train.  (I have no idea what that means either).  Now I am on the hunt for the perfect pair of fun colored shoes.  Unfortunately I have a couple of obstacles on my hunt.  First off my wedding colors aren't fun shoes colors.  As a refresher the wedding colors are navy, grey, khaki, white and a splash of orange.  Shockingly orange shoes are not so popular on zappos.com.

My other problem is I really want to wear heels.  But we are getting married in the grass and I am only a couple inches shorter than Mr. Cucumber Sammie.  I am sure I can find cute flats but I spend every day in flats.  High heels make me feel more dressed up.  As an added bonus, I think they make my posture better.  I know this is going to sound like the worst reason in the world but I also really want pictures like this:

Isn't she lovely {Image and Photo by Todd Pellowe Photography}

I started my shoe search at Zappos in the flats section.  I found a couple that were contenders but they don't make my heart soar like those gorgeous shoes above.

I actually really like these {Calvin Klein}

New York Ollie {Kate Spade}

Felice {Dolce Vita}

After trudging around in the flats section I decided to just take a peek at the heels to see if there was anything I liked.  I checked the box for under 2 inch heels in hopes that will keep me sufficiently shorter than Mr. Cucumber Sammie.  Thanks to Zappos amazing return policy, I might have to order some of these shoes just to try them on.  In the name of research of course.

Olinda {Caparros}

Madora {Vaneli}

 Culver {Nina}

Adalynn {RSVP}

Djalma {Vaneli}

After seeing them all together like this it is obvious that I have a type, navy peep-toe.  My favorites are the Calvin Klein flats, the Caparros Olinda and the Vaneli Madora.  I will probably just order all three and see which ones I like best.  Who knows, I might become a three shoe bride!

Where did you find your shoes?  Did you include anything in your wedding just because of the pretty pictures?

Swept Away

I am avoiding doing the hard work of the ceremony such as ummm writing it.  Instead I have completely skipped over the necessary elements and moved straight into the fun stuff.  The ceremony accessories!

We decided to include some cultural traditions into our ceremony to represent our heritage.  First up, Mr. Cucumber Sammie.  Mr. CS is African American so of course our immediate thought was 'jumping the broom'.

Impressive vertical leap {Image via Crave Online/Photo from Drew B Photography}

Legend has it that jumping the broom started as an African American slave tradition.  The slaves were unable to get married so they 'jumped the broom' as a way to public commit themselves to one another.  During my research I found out in Africa they may have used the broom in a ritual to symbolize past problems being swept away and starting anew.  I love the notion that at the end of our ceremony we jump over a broom and our lives together start fresh.  Feels very Mary Poppins-ish.

I am completely indecisive about almost everything (except Mr. CS of course) so I searched around for other African American traditions we could include.  There is the 'crossing of the sticks' which is exactly how it sounds.  You cross tall sticks.... weird.  Moving on.  There is also the tying the knot where the officiant ties your hands together.  It seems a lot of cultures have claimed the 'tying the knot' or handfasting as their own.  I also found something called the knocking ceremony.  Mr. Cucumber Sammie would have to come to my family's door with presents.  If the 'knock' is accepted then my family is giving their permission and blessing.  While I love the idea of presents it seems a little late for permission on wedding morning.  And then there is the libation ceremony.  I find this one to be the oddest.  You take water or alcohol and pour it on the ground in each of the directions (N.E.S.W.) calling out to the spirits.  Hmmmm no!

And now we have come full circle back to the broom.  Mr. CukeSammie and I both agreed that we would much prefer to jump the broom.  Now to find a broom!

I immediately went straight to etsy.com.  They had some really nice brooms but they all seemed super expensive especially when I remembered that it was a broom!  The cheapest one I found was $25 not including shipping. 

Pretty Flowers! {My Beatiful Wedding Etsy}

{Image via BellaSkyEvents/No longer Available}

Then I tried amazon and overstocked thinking I could pick up a nice old fashioned broom.  It is amazing how complicated finding a broom turned out to be.  I found a couple but they were kitchen brooms and that seemed a little 'wrong' for our wedding no matter how much ribbon I tied around it.  Corn brooms looked nice but they were expensive too.

Corn Broom {Image via Lehmans}

After striking out at all my usual shopping sites and search engines, I decided to give etsy.com one more go. Buried way in the back is where I found her (yes it is a her).  Handmade with wood from Pennsylvania (me too!), I think this one will be perfect.

Lovely {Brooms for Sale Etsy}

Of course I am going to dress her up with some accessories of her own, maybe a ribbon or faux flower.  The best part was she was only $12.  The Goldilocks of brooms... not too expensive but not cheap either.  Now that I have my broom I should probably actually write the ceremony so there is a cause to use the broom.

Are you including any traditions in your ceremony?  Any big details you put off in favor of buying fun things?