In honor of this great holiday, I sent out DIY Halloween postcards, and while this isn’t a wedding related project, you could very easily alter this extra-super-simple project in order to make quick save the dates or RSVP postcards.
First I designed a Halloween image at a 4” x 6” size for the front of the postcard:
To keep it simple, I left the back blank and just wrote in messages and addresses, but you could also add another printed design or more info on the back.I printed these with my home printer on 110lb cardstock. In the future when making postcards I’ll probably try to print on something slightly heavier. I then trimmed them to size with my small paper trimmer (yes, I have two, so there is a small and a big), but you could also use postcard sized paper.
Hope you have a great Halloween!Now go eat some candy!
Jaws made audiences never want to swim again. Open Water made audiences never want to trust an islander. Because you see, island folk live on island principles. “Work” is something you fit in between hammock sessions, and “responsibility for human life” is something invented by the man to keep islanders down. We are free and easy on de island, mon! Safety procedures and business ethics need not apply! It’s all in the name of chillaxing and fun! Jia!
And fun times are had, at least at first, in this week’s 2004 low budget sensation screamer. Overworked mainlanders Susan and Daniel decide to take an impromptu vacation to the Caribbean in order to escape the pressures of modern life. Everything starts out fantastic! They imbibe umbrella garnished drinks by the pool, dance to the smooth Caribbean beat in clubs, and even lie around naked in bed (curse you broken air conditioner!).
But then they make the biggest (and possibly last) mistake of their lives: they trust an islander with responsibility. The couple decides to take a scuba diving trip on a local diving company’s rig. But it’s run by islanders. Yep, trouble.
Some fuzzy math is done while conducting a passenger head count by the boat’s resident moron. So when nearly all of the divers on the trip return to the boat, the moron mistakenly says “all’s aboard” and those mofo’s are Outtie-5000 back to shore. Only problem is, Susan and Daniel weren’t on board. They were left in the middle of the ocean.
At first they are optimistic. “Oh, we must have drifted away from our dive spot,” they say. But nope, not quite. You trusted islanders, foos, and now your busted ass is stranded in the middle of the ocean. Worst part is, the idiots on the boat don’t even realize you are missing, nixing any hope for a search party.
But that isn’t the worst part, because soon come the sharks. Oh, the sharks were awesome, welcomed visitors by Susan and Daniel just a few hours before when they were on their “scuba adventure. Don’t try and tame nature, yo! Such arrogance will come back to bite you (rimshot!). These sharks quickly become unwelcome, especially when they start taking chunks out of our dead-meat divers.
They are alone. They are scared. They float… and wait to meet teeth. Mental and physical horror mounts with each shark nudge, as our vacationing couple swims to survive in the 2004 super-pants-soaker “Open Water.”
RDHP Ratings and Reviews
C-Rating: 2.1 Chris Dimick splashes: “This movie is awful. But that isn’t a comment on its production quality or ability to convey a story. What I should say is, this movie made me feel awful, in addition to lonely, blue, depressed and maybe a little hungry (…for human flesh. If it’s good enough for Great Whites, it’s good enough for me!).
Horror movies are typically packed to the gills with horrible, awful things. But usually, there is at least a fun element to the horror. Whether their point is to be campy, scary, gross, spooky, offensive or outrageous, horror movies typically try to instill a feeling of fun within their scares and motive. What you see is horrific, but its presented in an entertaining way.
But then there are those other horror movies, like Open Water, whose goal is not so much to entertain but to make you feel depressed. Granted, Open Water inherently should be a depressing movie. It is a flick about people abandoned at sea and being stalked by blood hungry sharks. As a film, it was very well done. I was amazed that even on a one-note premise, the film could hold a viewers attention for 80 minutes of basically people floating in water. All the marine life, including the sharks, were real -- and this added so much to the fear element of the movie.
But a vital element was missing. There was no fun. The entire time I just felt horrible for these people (the film is based on a true story) and their situation. Each awful thing that happened to them was not so much entertaining, but depressing. Though you wanted there to be some hope for them, the movie makes it clear that they are pretty much screwed. It’s like, ‘Hey, yeah, these people are totally f*$#ed, want to watch them get terrorized!?”
Yes, this was an impactful movie. It was realistic, filmed in a documentary style on digital film that made you feel like you were right in the water with these poor catfish. But you know what, I don’t want to be in that water; I don’t want to feel their pain; I don’t want to watch people in a hopeless situation get terrorized – UNLESS there is some fun involved… or at least a point, a message, or a reason.
But there was no underlying morale in Open Water, no real reason for being made, other than to show two rather innocent people get completely face-plowed by bad luck. No thanks. Good effort, love the way you look. But Open Water, you have no point other than to bring me down. With this guy, if there is no fun, I no like.”
N-Rating: 1.6 Nick Rich splashes: "What does one say about a movie that takes place almost entirely in the middle of the ocean? My mind is brought back to images of the Old Man and The Sea (which I saw when I was but a lad)... and honestly, I think I was more drawn in by that film. I mean, there's really only so much you can do with characters floating aimlessly for and hour and a half (at least the Old Man had something to do!).
Open Water is a textbook example of what happens when a movie is over-hyped (see image below).
Sure, it does great for its box office return (which is, of course, what distributors care about), but hype can create a rough storm for viewers to weather when viewing a film. "Mark said this movie was awesome!" "Sara said it made her stay up all night!" Blah, blah, BLAH! In my book, the only thing hype does is make it that much harder for me to enjoy a film. Now, I'm not overly hard on films... actually, for the most part, I think I often go a little easy on them... I really only have one criteria: that they be good. Sadly, Open Water did not fit the bill.
Chris and I both agreed that there was only one moment in the film that sent an actual shock of adrenaline through us - one moment! In a feature length film that is supposed to elicit terror this is simply not enough; it is especially disappointing when you are dealing with a feature that bills itself as "intensely frightening!" (again, see above image). Open Water has a good premise: pick something that sucks (getting stranded), something everyone fears (sharks) and marry the two together for an "intense" experience. Well, I'm sorry to say, some intense experiences just don't translate well to film. I'm afraid of immunizations and they definitely suck, but if you made a film about getting shots it would be pre-tty boring... and possibly make you want to scream.
Lament! Oh, Open Water! I respect the fact that you were an indie film that took 3 years to make on weekends while your writers/directors/producers/camera crew held down a full time job... but as much as I'd like to like you, that doesn't change the fact you just didn't move me (well, I almost started feeling sea sick for a minute there, but you know what I mean). Sigh. I really do wish we could have been chums.
The Skinny: Check this flick out if you've never sailed before and need to see if you'll get sea sick on your upcoming cruise or if you really, really want to believe in the power of hype."
Things We Learned from Open Water: -Bored just waiting for sharks to eat you and your spouse? Arguing helps pass the time! -“Tiredness” is not an excuse for forgoing whoopee-making. -Don’t ever trust a scuba instructor who says “sharks aren’t aggressive to humans.” -Nick can do a great Jacque Cousteau impression. -You can’t dive without a mask, even if you are from New Jersey. -Best way to hail a boat? Hold your fist in the air. -Fish love to feast on puke. -The night time is not always the right time (like, when lost at sea). -Cable TV can save your life. -If you drink sea water it will give you diarrhea. -Always keep candy in your wet suit pockets. -Never let go of your loved one at sea (we also learned this from Titanic). -“I’m gonna get wet” is the creepiest way for a man to say he’s going for a swim:
Quote of the Viewing: [Susan and Daniel’s abandoned at sea situation goes from bad to worse when a school of jelly fish decides to snuggle up close. Stings ensue. The humans freak out.] Chris: “Have you ever been stung by a jelly fish, Nick?” Nick: “No, but I’ve seriously thought about peeing on someone stung by a jellyfish.” Chris: “What, why?! Does that distract them from the pain or something? You are sick, man.” Nick: "No! You’ve never seen that Friends episode? It is supposed to make the sting feel better.” Chris: “Lies, you just like to pee on people.”
Sharks: Just Plain Badass
Their huge chompers. Their lighting speed. And that sexy dorsal fin. Mmmmm! The RDHP has a Brasky-sized man-crush on the king of the ocean – the shark. We mean, just look at those son of a guns! You can’t say they are not badest thing in the ocean. And we mean bad in a like a soul kind of way. Bad meaning good. Get it. Ugh, now we are off track. Back to sharks. Sharks are bad, man! Let’s celebrate the villains of Open Water with an internet tribute the sea’s living garbage disposal: Sharks.
RDHP Declares:
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
This week marks one of the RDHP's favorite holidays. A day that, for once a year, the world shares our interest in all things scary and spooky. On Oct. 31, the RDHP and all horror fans become norms! Quite the mind freak. In celebration of the festival of Samhain, we give you the following Halloweeny pixs and video. Have a great, horrific holiday!
Bridesmaid GF came to visit this week and in addition to drinking extra strong mojitos and watching 3 straight hours of Say Yes to the Dress we also visited Bella Bridesmaid to check out the top bridesmaid dress contenders.
Due to the great styles, colors, fabric, and price point, it looks like the Cheetah Girls will be dressed in Priscilla of Boston dresses in crinkle chiffon.The very lovely Bridesmaid GF models some of the options below:
This dress shows the pewter color that we may go with:
The other color option, rose petal:
A couple of the other Cheetah Girls are with child, so GF made a “baby bump” to see if the style below would work for the preggos.Unfortunately Priscilla of Boston does not have a designated maternity dress (every line should have at least one maternity option!), so making sure this dress would work over baby bellies was vital in being able to chose this line of dresses.
I love Bridesmaid GF’s shocked expression at seeing herself in the mirror with the fake baby bump ;)
And here is the same dress, in yellow and sans faux baby bump:
This was Bridesmaid GF's fave style (doesn't she look awesome in it?):
And here is what it would look like shortened (our helpful consultant is holding it up in back):
I always pictured having short bridesmaid dresses for my ladies, but so many of these options look great in long!Most of the long dresses would look great shortened, but that is an extra alteration to worry about.I’m still leaning towards the short dresses, but if each lady prefers a long style, we’ll just leave them long.
So Hive, which do you prefer, Short or Long bridesmaid dresses?
And, just for fun and because I can’t resist, here are some ridiculously awesome bridesmaid dresses:
Alternate title: I Decide to Build Our Wedding Website.
There are plenty of websites that provide easy, nice looking templates for your own wedding website, they range from very customizable to fairly basic (Check out Miss Panther's post here for more info).Many have fees and costs involved (often in the $25-100+ range), but there are also free ones out there such as eWedding and WeddingChannel.Yet, I decided that free and easy was too good for me.I wanted a challenge!So I decided to build our own wedding website.I did this for two reasons: 1) I wanted it to be completely custom, 2) I wanted to learn how to make my own website.Armed with Dreamweaver CS4 and this book, I set to work.
The banner and left-side menu are on every page, which I set up as a Dreamweaver template. I included a lot of travel info for our guests and a FAQ section where we mention dress codes, average temperatures, and I even let our guests know that we are both keeping our names.I may have gone overboard with the photo section.Currently there are 12 pages of photos and I keep adding more… somebody keep me away from my scanner.
Here are some things you should know if you plan to build your own wedding website:
-It’s not free.I had to pay for a domain name and for web hosting, I used godaddy.com.
-It takes time, especially if this is new to you.
-You will get frustrated, especially if this is new to you.
Why I’m glad I did it:
-Free reign over the design.
-We were able to easily include any information we wanted (lots of sections on traveling to Palm Springs), and omit anything we didn’t want (guest book and online RSVPs—which I know some people love, but I’m a snail mail lady).
-It was a great learning process (and it is still a learning process).
-easy and personalized URL address.
Do you have a wedding website?Did you use an online template or build it yourself?
In just a couple short weeks we will be just 4 months away from the Cheetah Wedding. I haven’t had a time freak-out yet (I’m expecting one of those when it actually hits 2011. “Happy New Ye—Holy Pickle Shoes!Our wedding is in 2 months! Stop the party—where is my wedding binder and my best pinking shears!”).
I’m actually feeling pretty good about what we have planned so far.We have a venue, photographer, my dress, a florist, a DJ… most of the big stuff.What I am worried about is all the little things, all the fabulous details we obsess over for months and months that can help personalize a wedding(and that may or may not be noticed by the wedding guests).I know I want lots of details: cute little straws, awesome escort cards, out of town bags, programs… the list goes on and on…
But I’m afraid.Afraid of committing.Not to Mr. Cheetah, of course, but to the design of all these little things.I’m so afraid I’m going to spend lots of time and money creating some fabulous little thing only to decide a month later that it doesn’t go with our overall look.That I will use the bold sans serif font when should have used the swirl-y script font. That I'll print out dozens of items and later decide that one the colors is off. But time is dwindling down and I’ve got to get crafting.My plan right now is to start designing the invitations and use that as the design model/spring board for all the other details.Now I just have to commit to an invitation design…
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