DIY Card Box

A quick project!  I got all of the supplies this weekend, and I just finished the project tonight.  This has also been one of my favorite projects to work on.  The pictures make the card box look deceivingly small, so I included our framed guestbook instructions (which are 8"x10") in the second photo. 

The photo doesn't show it well, but the turquoise lids of the top and bottom tiers are sparkly!

All ready to go, 222 days early!

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. 

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:

 

Invitations!

I made up some mock invitations tonight while Lee was studying.  Which ones are your favorites?  My favorite is the turquoise invitation with the black filigree on it.

Glee!

Glee tonight used my wedding colors!  :)

Tuxedos

Lee visited a tux rental shop today to rent a tux for his dental school's black tie ball next week.  He mentioned to the consultant the color for our wedding would be Malibu, and the consultant showed him a Malibu tux combo with a black shirt. 

Lee really liked this combo, and I like it too.  I had thought about the guys having black shirts, but I wasn't sure if it would look to "emo."  I think it would go really well with the Malibu/black color theme, though. 

Trip to David's Bridal

I signed up for a David's Bridal appointment when I was at the Eugene Bridal expo to get a free Shutterfly coupon.  I decided to use the appointment to take another look at bridesmaid dresses and maybe a special occasions dress for myself.

I probably wouldn't be looking at dresses for myself at David's Bridal, but my roommate has a credit for over $100 that she has offered to give me.  She says she won't buy anything there, so I might as well use it!  I hope she is able to transfer the credit to me.  :)  Since I bought my dress at David's Bridal, I also get an additional $20 off each dress I buy. 

Here are some of the dresses I tried on:

The black one-shoulder dress ($99) is by far my favorite.  However, I got the most compliments from other shoppers when I came out in the white dress ($159).  By the way, I hate the fluorescent lighting at all the David's Bridal stores.  So unflattering.

I found a necklace that might work with my dress.  My dress has really chunky beading on the belt, so I think whatever jewelry I go with should have similarly-proportioned jewels.  Here's a picture:

While at the store, I decided to browse the bridesmaid dresses.  I came to some very important conclusions while shopping!  Here they are:

1) I like the cotton sateen fabric best.  This fabric feels like a cotton sundress, which would be perfect for a July wedding.  Also, the cotton sateen has very cute styles!

2) I definitely will have my bridesmaids pick their own style of dress.  Everyone will be happy!  :)

3) I love the color MALIBU!  I made a decision, and this IS the color!  I just talked to Lee, and he likes this color too.  Yay!

Here are the current cotton sateen Malibu dresses (plus a lace Malibu dress):

I was so excited about figuring out the color, that I had to try a Malibu dress on while I was in the store.  I did a test run of the top right dress with black accessories.  My camera made the blue color a little different, but you can get the overall idea.  What do you think?  Black accessories on the bridesmaids, or silver?

I also bought a swatch of the color.  Does this mean it's "official"?!

My New Color Love: Turquoise and Black

I'm not ready to commit to a color scheme yet.  However, I am having a ton of fun looking at fun pictures like these!  

Turquoise reminded me too much of a beach wedding, so I hadn't considered using turquoise.  ...That is until I saw some bright turquoise and black wedding inspiration boards.  Adding black to the color scheme makes turquoise suddenly seem more edgy.  And I love it.  Here are some inspiration photos:

Bits and Pieces

I still am not any closer to choosing a color.  I made a trip to David's Bridal to look at some of the colors in person, and I decided not to make my choice until this summer.  One of the sales associates told me the colors change every quarter based on fashion trends, so if I picked a color now, it might not be around by the time my bridesmaids order their dresses.

I talked to a few more djs, and the best-priced dj around Grand Forks is XL93 (the main popular radio station).  They were the dj for Becca and Tyrone's wedding, so I know they would do a good job. 

Lee sent an email to our first choice for a photographer, Shawna Noel Photography.  Lee's brother Neil is a commercial photographer, and Neil worked at UND's student newspaper with Shawna.  We have yet to hear back from her, but I am hopeful our wedding date is not taken yet!

I have been perusing the internet looking at invitation ideas.  I really like the invitations with pocket folder envelopes, but the pocket envelopes are expensive (average $1.50 per envelope). 

 

I also like the modern invitations.  Here's a design I personalized on FedEx.com.  I was surprised to find FedEx/Kinkos has really great prices (the invitations average 65 cents for the quantity I would be purchasing) and a wide variety of wedding invitations to choose from!  They also have coordinating save the dates, rsvp cards, wedding programs, menus, etc.  The invitations are easy to customize. 

 

I also like this simple, elegant invitation:

If I were to go a more elegant route, I have always liked damask patterns:

Here's another FedEx invitation in white on black damask:

Finally, here's a save the date magnet from FedEx.  I'm not sure if we would do magnets, cards, or postcards, but I would like to personalize the save the dates with an engagement picture.  These magnets would be 34 cents each!