Puzzles

I have been working on some fun puzzles for the wedding!  I want to make sure the guests have some small thing to entertain them while waiting, so I have made a couple of puzzles and fun games for the guests. 

I made a crossword puzzle, a digital camera "I Spy," and a wedding mad libs.  My favorite is the crossword puzzle.  I took a picture of the one I printed out and solved:

Oops, I forgot to fill in one of the answers!

One puzzle/game will be placed at each person's spot at the reception, and I will print out a few extras in case people would like to try their hand at more than one.  I hope the guests enjoy completing their puzzles while waiting for their food!

Wedding Weekend Projects with Lee

Lee visited Salem this weekend, and we were able to complete a few wedding projects.

For our ceremony, we made decisions on songs and readings.  The parents, grandparents, and bridal party will be walking down the aisle Air on the G String by Bach.

I will be walking down the aisle to this version of the wedding march:

This song will be our special music during the lighting of the unity candles:

And we will be walking up the aisle as a married couple to this song!

My brother will be doing our readings.  Here are the readings from the Bible we have chosen:

Jeremiah 29:11-13  

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, 

“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

1 Corinthians 13:1-8

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, 

but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, 

but do not have love, I am nothing.  

If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, 

but do not have love, I gain nothing.

 Love is patient, love is kind. 

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 

It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 Love never fails.

A couple of other fun things.  I got Lee's pocket square in the mail this weekend.  They did not have pocket square in our color at Mens Wearhouse, so I had to order online.  I ended up getting a good deal; the pocket square, with shipping, was under $10!

Lee will wear this in his tuxedo's pocket

I also was able to work on the wedding invitation suite, since I am designing my own.  This picture is kind of blurry, but you can get the general idea.  There will be two pages sent with our invite.  The first will be the invitation and the second will be the information and a detachable RSVP postcard.  The third page you see is the back side of the information/RSVP postcard.  To RSVP, guests will detach the pre-stamped bottom portion of the second page on a perforated line.

We are going to print the invites on white or cream shimmer paper.  I would like to either tie something around the 2 pages or put a belly band around them to keep them together.  The tie or band could be turquoise to introduce our color scheme. 

Here is one last wedding project we started but did not finish this weekend: escort cards. We are going to be making wax seals to put on each escort card.  Lee's mom does calligraphy, and we are going to have her write them out for us.  Here is our inspiration and our tester card:

Inspiration

This seal has wedding bells, but we also bought a wax stamp with hearts

We didn't use real wax to make our version.  We used hot glue, a wax stamp, and silver spray paint to achieve the same effect.  We found the cards at the dollar store in packs of 50 for 25 cents a piece.  The back of a card will have a printed off sticker designating which tables the person can sit at.  We will not be having individual seating place cards, but these will serve as a guideline so family can sit closer to the head table. 

Lots of to-do list items were conquered this weekend!  I love crossing things off my list. 

Case Closed!

A decision has been reached!  Since the prices were very comparable, I decided to go with TWO save the date designs.  Younger wedding guests (my friends and Lee's friends) will receive the black and white artsy save the date, and parents' friends will receive a more traditional pose on their save the dates.  Everyone's happy, especially me.  :)

Best of all?  My only expense is printing the postcards, since I designed the postcard by myself and the e-pics were complimentary from our photographer.  The total price per postcard to print is 24 cents.  Postage for each will be 29 cents, making this one budget-friendly project!  

DIY Wire Wedding Hangers

This project has taken awhile for me to attempt.  I found the materials several weeks ago, but I was too busy with save the dates to try it out.  I finally found the motivation tonight while watching Glee. 

If you buy these on Etsy, they are usually around $20.  I used $4 wooden hangers from Ikea and $3 wire from Walmart.  I also used a small amount of ribbon left over from other projects.  Now I have a great personalized hanger to showcase my dress for a few pictures on my wedding day! 

Save the Dates!

I have been working on options for save the date postcards, and I need your help!  Below are some of the save the dates I have created.  Here are my questions for you!

1) Which is your favorite front design?  Keep in mind the picture can be changed.  Also, the colors can be modified as well. 

2) Which is your favorite back design?  The back will be printed in black and white.  Again, keep in mind the picture can be changed. 

3) Out of the featured pictures, which is your favorite picture for the save the dates?  If there is a different picture from our engagement photo shoot that you think would also work, let me know!

 

Finished Flowers

Awhile back, I mentioned I had been working on my wedding flowers.  I took a short break from making them, but I am happy to report I have finally finished all of the flowers!

I made 6 bridesmaid bouquets and a toss bouquet for the reception.  Here is a picture of all of the bouquets lined up above my cabinents:

I also made the boutonnieres and corsages.  I used turquoise ribbon to wrap the stems of the boutonnieres and corsages.  However, for parents and grandparents, I used white ribbon.  Overall, I kept them pretty simple.  You can see examples of both below.

DIY Birdcage Fascinator

My project for the past couple of days has been working on a DIY birdcage fascinator, complete with a flower, sparkles, and feathers!  Wikipedia describes fascinators as "a delicate, frivolous head decoration," and that's exactly what my turned out to be.  My fascinator may be delicate and frivolous, but it's definitely fun!

I will be wearing a regular veil for the wedding ceremony, but I tried on birdcage veils when I was dress shopping and I really liked them as well.  Since I like both so much, I decided I will wear a traditional veil during the ceremony and a birdcage veil/fascinator during the reception and dance.  Of course I hadn't budgeted for two veils, so I decided to make my birdcage veil and spend my budgeted money on a real veil.

Without further ado, here is the finished product:

Here's how I did it:

1) I bought a birdcage veil at Michaels using my weekly 40% off coupon for $8.99.  The veil came with a comb attached and rhinestones sprinkled across the netting.

2) I purchased one set of white flowers at the dollar tree for (the price on this one is a big surprise) $1.  I took apart the white flowers completely and used only the petals of the flowers.

3) I took a necklace Lee had given me for Christmas a few years ago and I cut off the pendant for the center of the flower.  I don't regret doing this because the necklace was made of nickle and was turning orange on some parts of it. Maybe I'm sentimental, but this is my favorite part of the fascinator. 

4) I stacked the flower petals from largest to smallest and glued them together using a hot glue gun.  I sewed on the rhinestone necklace pendant on the front of the flower, and on the back of the flower, I glued on a few feathers I happened to have sitting around. I then sewed the entire flower to the comb of the birdcage veil.

5) Using the stick-on rhinestones I had purchased at Walmart earlier this week, I added a few rhinestones around the pendant and added a few more gems to the veil as well.  You can never have too much sparkle! 

My grand total for the birdcage fascinator was $10.  I am calling it a birdcage fascinator rather than a birdcage veil because I don't want to wear the veil over my eyes during the reception and dance.  I don't want to feel like I have something in my eyes all night! 

Ode to Invitations

Wedding invitations are expensive little pieces of paper.  Soooo expensive.  When all is said and done, many people spend well over a thousand dollars on the invites, envelopes, RSVPs, save the dates, and postage for all of the above.  I have to admit, I have gotten little caught up in all of the glamorous wedding invitations out there. 

I have heavily debated having pocketfold wedding invitations.  They are aesthetically pleasing and hold each invitation item oh-so-perfectly. 

But they are EXPENSIVE.  I thought if I made the pocketfolds myself, I might save a bit of money.  Sadly, it would still be fairly expensive for the large sizes of card stock and the number of pieces of paper required.  Also, pocketfolds are frequently overweight and need extra postage. 

I went back and forth, but I decided pocketfolds are not worth the time with the number of invitations I need to make.  I'd rather spend my time making much less monotonous wedding DIY projects.  Plus, there is too much room for variation in the final product: an uneven fold/cut, pockets that won't stay glued down, or inserts that get stuck in the pocket tape or glue. 

So as of now, no pocketfolds.  However, there is still room for changing my mind if I fall in love with them all over again.  :)

Instead of pocketfolds, I am leaning toward a much simpler approach: a simple black and white 5x7 invitation on white shimmer paper, with the inserts and the invitation tied together using a turquoise ribbon.

Here are some of my inspiration examples:

Love how classy this invitation set is!  I'm in love.  :)

Above is an example of a thin ribbon tying the invitation pieces together. 

I also found this image, and I could imagine a thicker turquoise ribbon surrounding the invitations (horizontally, not vertically) with a small square of card stock with our monogram hiding the ribbon ends.  I also like the damask surrounding the monogram. 

No matter what invitation ideas I end up using, I for sure will be addressing the invitations with wraparound address sticker labels.  I have found a few DIY tutorials on the web for these, and I am so excited to make my own labels!  I think they look great and are a good way to quickly and easily address envelopes. 

Flowers Flowers Flowers!

I am SO excited about this post!  Almost more excited than I am for my birthday and the new season of Glee next week! 

Due to budget constraints, I had decided to do fake flowers for the bridesmaids, toss bouquet, boutonnieres, and corsages.  My bouquet and Lee's boutonniere will be made of real blooms and done by a florist.  Yesterday, Lee and I went to Michaels to browse the flower and wedding sections.  Lo and behold, flowers were 50% off.  We made some split-second decisions and decided to purchase the flowers we would need for the wedding.

We found an assortment of large roses for bouquets, small roses for corsages and boutonnieres, and small white cluster flowers.  We needed a few more large roses than they had in stock, but Michaels is nice and gave us a rain check.  When we returned home, I decided to take a stab at flower arranging. 

There are not many tutorials on the internet for arranging fake or silk flowers.  I looked at a few general bouquet arranging websites, and then I just decided to go for it!  Here is the end result.  I am so pleased.  :)

Here, Lee is modeling a bouquet.  We decided to wrap the stems in black ribbon to match the black tuxes with their black shirts underneath.  I wrapped white ribbon as an accent around the black.

 Another side view.

A view from the top of the bouquet.

Here's how the whole flower arranging process went: I started by de-leafing all of the flowers and cutting the cluster flowers into single branches.  Next, I grouped three roses around one section of small cluster flowers.  In the indentations made by the three roses on the sides of the bouquet, I placed another set of small cluster flowers.  I placed the leaves similarly.  

All of the flowers were secured to each other one at a time using floral tape.  I must note floral tape is the most difficult tape I have ever worked with.  As your hands warm it up, it gets gummy and makes your fingers incredibly sticky.  Not to mention, the tape does not stick to flower stems; it sticks only to itself.  

I covered the floral tape with 5/8" black satin ribbon.  I wrapped the ribbon around the stem so it overlapped and covered the floral tape completely.  I temporarily secured the black ribbon with a round pearl pins.  I then took 1/4" white satin ribbon and wrapped it around the black ribbon, securing the white ribbon with the round pearl pins where the ribbon crossed.  I made these crossings approximately 1" apart.  The placement of these pins also acted to further secure the black ribbon.

Tah Dah!  I have a bridesmaid bouquet.  Here's the best part: the cost for all of the bridesmaid bouquets, boutonnieres, and corsages will be UNDER $50!  Plus, I get to have fun making all of them.  I love being artsy-crafty.  

I have one final interesting tidbit for all of you blog readers.  I have had nearly 4,500 hits on my blog since I started it late last November.  Cool!

Dollar Store Bride

If you know me well, you know I cannot resist a deal.  I am not afraid to admit I love freebies, coupons, and the dollar store.  Today Lee and I decided to visit the Dollar Tree to check out if they had anything to use for our wedding.  And of course they did! 

Lee and I first checked out the wedding "section."  (Did you know: not only the Dollar Tree has a section dedicated to weddings, Walmart has one too!).  Our first find was 300-count bags of fake white rose petals.  We figured we could use these either in the church aisle or to scatter on tabletops.

 We also picked out some white wire garland with little plastic hearts sticking out of it.  We think we could use it for tying back tulle, edging tables/doors, or wrapping around things.  Not very specific uses, but we are sure we will use it!  The garland pictured below isn't the exact garland we bought, but you get the idea.

We then went on to the candle aisle.  I decided I will be making our unity candle, so we scoped out the candle options at the dollar store.  They have two tapered candles for a dollar, so I am sure I will be back to purchase two of those.  Today we purchased two glass candlestick holders for the taper candles.  We will use a pillar candle in the middle.  I have yet to brainstorm how I will decorate the pillar candle...

Onward we went to the picture frames.  Although we did not buy any picture frames today, I know we will be back to revisit this section of the store to purchase frames for some of the projects I have in mind!

Then, divine inspiration struck.  Earlier this week I had seen a fabulous centerpiece on Pinterest.  Oh how I love Pinterest!  The centerpiece utilized fishbowls stacked upon each other.  When Lee and I stumbled upon small fishbowls at the Dollar Tree, I knew I would want to try to recreate this decoration.

All of the fishbowls at the Dollar Tree are the same size, but we decided we liked the look of the identical fishbowls stacked just as well.  We debated about what to put in the bowls, and we decided to put a candle in the top bowl.  In the bottom bowls, we decided we would put turquoise beads and a single white flower bud nestled on top of the beads (kind of like the picture below, except the flower would be white and the water would be turquoise beads). 

We looked through the store for blue beads, and we found a perfect substitute: air freshener gel beads.  These gel beads are the perfect color.

In total, we bought enough fishbowls to make one tower of three and two towers of two (7 total).  We also bought 4 containers of the gel beads.  We'll buy the flowers and the candles later.  We think we are going to use this decoration either at the guest book table or on the punch or cake table.

Last, but not least, I bought a package of white doilies.  I want to try making a craft like the one below:

 

Fun Wedding Mail

I am beginning to realize there is a huge market for wedding-related items.  Once I got engaged, I started noticing even Walmart and the Dollar Tree have wedding sections.  I now get 5-10 emails a day about honeymoon destinations, bridal party gifts, and invitations.  I've even started to receive wedding snail mail.

This past week, I got an Oriental Trading Company magazine exclusively for weddings.  The magazine was divided by color/theme.  I liked the black and white damask section the best!  I'm not sure I will buy anything from it, but they did have some cheap favor ideas.

Also, I've started to get my free subscription of Brides Magazine from the bridal expo.  Inside, I found a coupon for a free bridal makeup consultation and Clinique lip gloss if I create a Macy's registration.  I'm such a sucker for free things, so this is definitely on my to-do list!

In unrelated wedding news, I found a fabulous new apartment in Salem yesterday for when I begin my new job.  It's a studio apartment, complete with a Murphy bed, walk-in closet, and beautifully landscaped apartment grounds.  The apartment is only 4 years old and amazing.  Plus, I have access to a heated pool, hot tub, sauna, NICE gym, and business center.  The grocery store, Walmart, Dairy Queen, and gas stations are all within a mile away.  It's just what I wanted! 

Bridal Expo

I went to the Eugene Bridal Expo today, and I had an amazing time!  Did you know for around $750, you can have an actual arcade photo booth brought into your wedding reception?  Instant souvenirs for guests!  Too bad that option is out of the budget.

I tasted lots of food, entered many drawings (crossing my fingers!), and got a few free goodies to take home.  Just for attending, I received a one-year subscription to Brides magazine, a $20 Shutterfly gift card, and a $600 gift card for tungsten wedding bands.  I also got to see a bridal fashion show and collected ideas for my own wedding.

I took pictures of some of my favorite things I saw:

Cakes

 

Table Settings

 Flowers

After my "budget" post, a few great things have happened.  My mom booked the XL93 DJ, and we ended up getting the $100 deposit waived.  Also, the photographer we want offered us a free engagement package (with 50-60 free digital images) if we booked our wedding with her.  Along with the free wedding band gift card I acquired today, these things help the budget out!

Because I got my dress at David's Bridal, I received a coupon for a free hardcover photobook (valued $60).  The coupon expires in June, so instead of making a book with engagement pictures, I am going to fill it with pictures from when Lee and I first met up until now.  I am looking forward to working on this in my free time. 

I didn't mention this last post, but I got my ring back from the jeweler after having it sized.  It feels much better to have a ring that fits perfectly.  I missed wearing it the week I didn't have it!