Did you know some vintage typewriters are actually affordable? Say hello to my Sears Tower Quiet Tabulator Manual Typewriter from the 1950s.

I was shocked that I didn't have to break the bank to get my hands on one of these cuties. I happened upon this gem at my local antique store, The Antique Barn. Tucked away at the bottom of a shelf full of knick knacks, this baby screamed my name and yearned to be taken home and loved.

Her real name is the Silent Super by Smith Corona - a popular typewriter manufacturer in the US of A around that time. This is the rebranded version by Sears. It comes with a CHARMING carrying hard case that can be repurposed as a travel case. That's like two deals in one! Oh, and ribbons are not hard to find online at all.

So what's the damage? Just a couple of Hamiltons ($10s). I'm serious! And I'm not even "good" at antique shopping.

Go visit your local antique shoppes! Now leave me alone so I can type my to-do lists, recipe cards, love notes, not-so-mental notes... I'll be bringing her to my wedding. ;)

It is amazing to think that it was only one weekend ago that E and I "put a ring on it". Since then we've almost been like chickens with our heads cut off figuring out where we want the ceremony and reception to take place. While we can wait on many of the other wedding details, as we're not planning to wed until more than a year later, we can't slack on the locations if we want a good church and venue.

In reality, we already know where we WANT to go for those two events. But where we can afford or fit guests into is a whole 'nother story. This past weekend, we visited several places, from cute and homey to glitzy and screaming "i am bling".

Wayfarers Chapel

aka "The Glass Church"
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Website

This place completely entranced us just as it did the first time we came here years ago. What a charming, beautiful, peaceful place, situated high on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. It was designed and built in the late 40s by Lloyd Wright (son of Frank Lloyd Wright). It is magnificient, but humble. No glitz, no glam. Just pure beauty and harmony with nature. Check out the view!

Inside Wayfarers Chapel


The beautiful view as you get out of the chapel


And if you look to your left as you get out, you see the ocean




Lots of interesting brick memorials.

Even if you don't plan to wed there, I highly recommend just coming here to visit and relax. We know this is where we want to be, but it might be a struggle with the 100 maximum guest count, since our families added together are rather large....

Pluses

• Beautiful space
• Cozy, view of the ocean
• A set list of ministers are available
• Candlelight ceremony available - super romantic and pretty
• Long scenic drive along the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes

Minuses

• Long scenic drive along the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes (my relatives are of the complainy sort)
• Tiny church, seats 100 people max, not including bride & co and groom & co
• $2,500 for weekends, $400 extra for candlelight option

Terranea Resort

Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Website

After Wayfarers we headed to this place on the way to check out their reception options. It is quite close to Wayfarers and also situated along the coast of Rancho Palos Verdes.

It's a pretty grand resort, but without too much of the glitter and shine (there's the Trump Golf Club nearby for that). It only just opened up Summer 2009. It feels earthy and semi-casual, with lots of italian tiles and classic details in furniture and decor.

But it might still be a bit too grand for us. Not to mention our budget doesn't seem to like it very much... Catering alone at Terranea starts at $30k, and that's not including other fees.

Pluses

• Very large resort with many ballrooms and areas available for reception.
• Impressive without being pompous.
• Casual atmosphere and killer view.
• Date availability because of the spaces.

Minuses

• Cost
• Can't use your own catering. Our dreams of a tub of curry fishballs would be shattered.
• Not quite as down to earth and characteristic as we'd like, doesn't totally represent our style. But we are VERY picky...

The fun part of our visit there was these hot rides though!

I wouldn't mind getting hitched in one of these! With that luggage too!

We'll be continuing to shop in the coming weeks. But I guess not a bad start so far. If anyone has suggestions, we're ALL ears!

While the purpose of Serious Craft is not to rant about my personal journey on planning a wedding, I think this planning process will still provide great insight and know-how to the site and others who are also striving for a DIY wedding.

I feel that my wedding will be the ultimate testament to my skills and capabilities as a crafter and a designer. The level of craftsmanship I and others expect out of me is high, and I expect to give no less than my best. I hope my belief in my good tastes is true. Yet, I fully expect to learn a lot of new things from the whole process, even with many failures along the way. But I hope that in the end, I will be able to better appreciate and make use of the repertoire of skills I have gained for the many years I've been a crafter.

I hope you will enjoy the rants about my journey as much as I hope to experience them. :)

I know I'll want to at least (attempt to) do the following:

• wedding dress - possibly the biggest challenge, but imagine the money saved!
• hair wear - veil, etc.
• memorable centerpieces - one of the most important in my opinion
• cake topper
• general look & feel
• graphic designs for overall theme
• hand-letterpressed invitations(via bottlejack method probably)
• handcrafted metal stamp for wax seals (useless but cool)
• website & online gallery
• guests "social networking" website for arranging transportation/accommodations/etc.
• decor - this can be a HUGE or small task depending on the venue (if I get smogshoppe then this might be a breeze!)
• fun-fun-fun photograph backdrops
• table placecards / placecard holders
• a large quilling sign for guest sign-in area (tell you about it later)
• some sort of ponoko items (candelabras?)
• party favors
• gifts to bridal party
• recipes for small foods

Do I sound crazy? Maybe I am... Well, these are things I know I will NOT tamper with, at least:

• flowers
• main food dishes
• photography - unless i don't want to be in pictures!
• no i won't sew and dye my own tablecloths or anything... I DO want to dye some things though...

I found a word that describes one of the styles of design I love the most: apothecary

define: apothecary
a person who studies the art and science of mixing medicines;
also known as a pharmacist.

I didn't realize this before. But it describes the style perfectly—endless mishmash of antique bottles and jars, rustic wooden furniture with a million mini drawers, tarnished metal hardwares, herbs and mushrooms, swirvy graphics and labels. I know, seems obvious, yea?

As I was driving home from San Diego, I had a bright idea for what would make awesome centerpieces for a wedding—TERRARIUMS!!! But not to my surprise, a bazillion people have already been there done that, guess it's not so bright an idea. That doesn't make me want to have them any less though.

A quick search brings up so many beautiful images of terrariums.

From: Pop Deluxe, $139


From: Flickr search for "terrarium"

There's that terrarium container from Pop Deluxe. But it's a little pricey for $139, I'm sure if I scour thrift shops I can find some used glass jars that'll work just as well. There's even these ones from Save on Crafts that are pretty reasonable too.

From: Save on Crafts, $13.99

Hmm....but what can be better than a terrarium? MUSHROOM TERRARIUMS! Oh my gosh, I'm drooling just thinking about it. Mushrooms grow in high humid environments, which is what terrariums are all about. I bet that can work. Another quick search takes me to Far West Fungi from San Francisco that is quite popular with their mushoom mini-farms.

I will probably have to experiment some to determine how this idea can work as centerpieces. It would probably take a lot of planning and preparation. But hey, it should not cost that much more than your standard fishbowl+water+floating candles+flowers, and it'll be way cooler pieces for guests to take home for sure. It just takes much more time...which I definitely will have, our wedding is not until at least one year from today.

Imagine some little totoros in the terrariums (or even mushroom logs). Pure charm.

From: eBay, EUR 12.99

Here's a few additional links that I found inspiring/informational:

• An Apple a Day's super inspirational Secret Garden
• Modish's well detailed instructions on setting up your terrarium
• The Fern & Mossery has a whole section dedicated to terrariums
• Let's Grow Mushrooms has awesome videos on building and growing mushroom terrariums

Yours truly is engaged!

After several years together now, from a 3,000 mile long distance relationship to living together under the same roof sharing the same bed, E and I have come to the conclusion that we never want to be apart.

We spent this past weekend down in San Diego for my cousin's wedding and my birthday. To my surprise (and I would want to be surprised), that's when the proposal took place. I was wearing my strapless dress from the Butterick pattern. It was sweet and charming.

I had to catch my breath for a few days since we came back up to LA on Sunday, after telling all our friends and family, and the constantly updating of facebook (haha), I'm back on the roll!

So what does it mean for Serious Craft?

DIY WEDDING of course!!! My brain juices and saliva have been flowing for a long time now thinking about all the kinds of crafts and handmaking that will be done for our wedding. There will no doubt be some Serious Crafting going on.

We will not only strive for our craft projects to be cost-effective, but also unique, not-cheap-looking, and beautiful.

That means expect an overflow of ideas and projects and documentation of the whole process of the creating here on Serious Craft! Starting with this post, there is now a "wedding" tag on the left sidebar so you can find all these posts easily.

Yay!

About the ring:

The ring is made of 100% recycled and completely re-refined platinum and contains conflict free diamonds from Canada. It does not support warfare and corruption in Africa. We feel good about it. It looks beautiful. It feels alive or like a working machine on my finger because it is very glittery. :)

Karen