Practice Centerpiece

I think the cost of wedding flowers are outrageous!  Now don't get me wrong... I absolutely LOVE flowers (I even have a tattoo of a flower)... I think they are beautiful... but I think centerpieces and bouquets from florists are way over priced.... so we are thinking of another route... making them ourself!
My dad works at Trader Joe's and they always have some beautiful full blooms for a cheap price.  Hydrangeas are a great summer flower and TJ's has huge steams of these!  My dad picked up a bunch the other day (each bunch comes with three stems) and he and my mom put together this simple centerpiece:

I didn't take the best picture of this mock centerpiece... but at least it gives you and idea!  They lined the vases with white ribbon along the top too to give it a little extra touch.  The hydrangeas are white with a tint of green.  The pictures above really don't give it enough justice though... it's pretty, simple, and a little elegant... and the great thing is each centerpiece costs less than $7 to make! The great thing is that my mom was able to find a boatload of matching vases for the centerpieces after a couple visits to a thrift store... and is currently on the hunt for voltive candle holders at thrift stores too.
We would put these centerpieces together  the day before the wedding.... maybe even two days before.  This mock centerpiece was in perfect condition for quite a while, so making them ahead of time will be no issue to the appearance!

I'm also thinking of incorporating hydrangea into my bouquet as well!

Be My Bridesmaid update

So I finished my first DIY (do it yourself) project... attempting to make those cute "be my bridesmaid" cards that I came across from Anna of Rifle Design.   Here was the final result of the paper doll chain.....

I was able to find some paper on clearance from Joann's and got to cutting.  Whew it took a while since I had to draw and cut out 5 garlands of paper dolls, 30 dresses, and 30 hair-dos! I'm not such a great artist and had no idea how to draw hair, so it looks a little off... but overall it turned out how I wanted!
I then printed a poem on a piece of cardstock, collapsed the paper doll  and wrapped it in ribbon:

The poem that I printed on the card reads:
The day, the dress
the Bride, the Groom
the joy, the tears
will all come so soon.
Professing true love 
to my husband-to-be,
with family and friends
all watching me.
I hope the sun will 
be shinning down,
keep your fingers crossed
that I'll fit in my gown.
But there's just one more thing
that there needs to be...
and that's to have you
standing with me!
It's hard for me to believe that in just a little while,
Scott and I will be walking down the aisle.
Nothing would give me more joy and pride,
than to have you right there by my side.


I found the poem on a message board on one of the wedding sites I frequent... and thought it would be cute to include.
Since I got all the paper needed on clearance, it only cost about 20 cents to make each bridesmaid card!
I plan to mail them out on July 26th!

first craigslist find

Craigslist is one of my favorite sites.  I'm on there at least once a day just to see what is being sold, what people have used for their wedding, and the price they sell it for.  People seem to sell everything on there!
After the wedding I plan on selling a lot of my purchased stuff as well... no point on storing some things that I will likely never use again. We'll be able to save storage space, get some money back, and help out a future bride at the same time.
A few days ago I was able to find a simple card box for just a couple bucks! I really haven't been on a hunt for one... but do know that I haven't been a fan of any that I've seen so far in the stores (which sell for like 20 bucks).  When I came across a particular post, the girl was selling it just for a couple dollars.  It is simple, collapsible, and easy to put together.   It's about 12" tall and 12" wide and in a octagon shape.  It's heavy duty cardboard with a pretty embroidered design on it (which you can really see in the picture). Later this year I plan on sprucing it up a bit to give it more with ribbon to give it some character.

If you are not familiar with what a card box is used for.... it's placed on the gift table at the reception and guests would drop their cards into it.  I've read about instances at past weddings where service staff or univited folks go to weddings and steal the cards (which are usually have checks or money enclosed).  The card box is a way to deter sticky fingers from grabbing cards that may just be laying in plain view on the table.
Hooray for craigslist for the cheap find and getting one of the menial tasks off my year long to-do list!

Program Fans

I've been in the mood to research some of the fun details of the wedding and saw these program fans and thought they can be useful for our ceremony... especially since we are having it on a June evening. We're going to be another DIY project. Above is the one we will be making! I found the template from Alyee Designs
and the original maker, Aylee, gives a "how-to" and even a template to use!

I plan on having the front and back cover in a summer green color... then the middle pages will be ivory/white. I'm now on the search for some heavy 100lb cardstock in those color choices so the program is sturdy enough to use as a fan. It's a hard search so far to find the heavy cardstock in light green! I've also purchased some stamps and an ink pad that I will use on these programs as well (kind of similar to that shown in the above picture). Once all the pieces are printed, cut, and stamped... I then would keep them together with a eyelet and have ribbon dangling from the bottom as well

I think these will turn out really nice!

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

I know who I want to be in my bridal party. My Maid of Honor is going to be my older sister, and my bridesmaids are four of my closest girlfriends (3 from college 1 from high school). I've been a bridesmaid in all of their weddings too.

I wanted to find a creative way to ask them to be my bridesmaid rather than just call them up and ask. While browsing online for "will you be my bridesmaid cards", I fell upon this cute DIY idea. Anna from Rifle Design gives a "how to" on her cute idea so here's another project I'm going to try!

They are super cute and unique... and I think my bridesmaids will be super surprised... and they'll adore getting this kind of "be my bridesmaid" invitation in the mail.

Here we go...

Post #1... BRING IT ON!

So we are now a year away from the big day. Twelve months seems so far away, but really when I look at the time line and the needs and tasks leading up to the day, wow that's like in no time!

I've been engaged for a month and a half now and already have had a breakdown from the stress of planning this wedding. Holy moly there is a lot that goes in to the big day. I've been to like 10 weddings in the past 5 years and I guess I have always been oblivious to the fact that someone actually had to plan and pay for every single detail of the day.

We all have heard stories of brides to be blowing budgets, going way overboard on silly unnecessary details, or not even putting much effort in it as well. I do not want to be one of those girls. My goal is to have a simple yet elegant, fun, traditional, personal, happy, and cost effective wedding. Is it possible to have all that and keep it at a reasonable budget? Let's see how I do...