My Adorable Fans!!

Paddle fans that is. To reiterate from my post "Keeping the Water Cold", we're having a mid-june wedding and it was important for us to have different ways of keeping our guest comfortable. So I decided to kill two birds with one stones, making my wedding programs hand-held fans that the guest cold use to keep themselves cool.




How did I make them? I have a template that I used for the body. The sticks are jumbo craft sticks from Walmart and are painted with Krylon spray paint. The bows are hand tied and all the rhinestones are hotfix rhinestones. The paper was affixed to the stick with 3M spray adhesive. This was a tedious process but so worth it, at least I think.

What are you doing for programs?

Keeping The Water Cold

When my hubby to be and I decided that we wanted an outdoor wedding, we knew that we wanted to have personalized bottles of water. We wanted to find ways to keep our guests cool short of renting a tent which was impossible given the awkwardness of our ceremony venue.

Anyway, back to the water. We wanted a fun and cute way of keeping our personalized water bottles cold without having to put them in ugly coolers. I just wasn't comfortable with the thought of igloos at a formal ceremony.

While shopping at Target one day, we just happened to wander into their seasonal aisle and, guess what we found?





Aren't they awesome!?! I got one white one and one red one and of course two stands. I think I'll add a black bow on each end of them. These cute beverage tubs are available at Target and come in a variety of different colors on the website. They have select colors available in the store. I believe they were $14.99 each and the stands that you put them on were $9.99 each.

I adore them. They are perfect. I hope this post helps another bride out.

TTFN

Centerpieces: Fabulousness!!

What did I find on my porch on Saturday? My feathers!! Woot! I was so unbelievably happy when I open the package and there they were in all their splendor.

I immediately came in and started re-working my centerpiece. There actually wasn't that much re-working to do, as I was already set on the way the roses are arranged. It was just about figuring out how and where I wanted to add the feathers to the arrangement.

I toyed with it for only about 15 minutes before I came up with this:



Don't you love it because I absolutely love it!!!

Keep in mind that at the actual reception, there will also be vase filler and floralytes inside the vases, red and clear crystals scattered around the vase and four clear votive holders with red votives.

I can not wait to see the whole set up. It's going to be elegant, beautiful and just perfect. :-)

Invitation Overdrive!!

It's April!! My how the time flys. April means it's time for me to get my invitations out. At least that's what it says on the timeline that I created for myself almost a year ago anyway.

On Thurday, which was the first day of April, I was feeling the pressure and I quickly got into invitation assembly mode. I finished glueing the pieces of the actual invitations together at work and was pleasantly surprised when I got them all glued together.

Later when I got home, I put everything in neat piles on the table to get ready for the final assembly. I have envelopments, which I love, and I had to glue the belly card over the belly bands. This was the finaly step before they we're ready to be put in to their cute envelopes.



I then right away started to put the dry ones into envelopes and attached their address labels. Yep, I used address labels which was appropriate seeing as though my envelopes are black. Finally, I started to run out of steam around 11pm and went off to bed, feeling good that half of the invites were in their envelopes awaiting postage. By the way, I ordered personalized stamps from www.zazzle.com and was impatiently awaiting their arrival.













Moving ahead to Friday April 2nd and I get a package at work and guess what it is!! My stamps!! They were so much more than I expected. I love them a whole lot. I highly recommend that you get your stamps from Zazzle. I ordered the large ones and omg they are just beautiful. This photo really doesn't do them justice.



Back to Friday......so after work, I finished getting the rest of the invites into their envelopes and their seals on them and affixed the postage to all of them.



Mission complete!!!

Now, it's Saturday April 3rd, and in a little bit I'll be heading out to the post office with them.

I'm squealing with excitement on the inside!!

TTFN

Centerpieces: Finely Feathered!!

As you know, I have been looking for longer feathers for my centerpieces. About 3 days ago, I found them on my second best wedding planning friend, ebay. I was so excited!!



Aren't they fabulous!?! These are grade A, 21 inch, black ostrich feathers. Swoon!

These things are expensive. I know because I explored every other option before finding these. I got 60 for $45 and that included shipping. On other sites the cost for that many of this quality and length was $120-$140 and did not include shipping.

I love a deal or should I say a steal!!

I can't wait for them to arrive so I can add them to my centerpieces!!

Be on the look out for pictures.

That's My Chair

I've been noticing this new trend with brides wanting to add some sort of personalization to the bride and groom's chairs at the reception. Those of you who really know me as far as wedding planning goes, know that I really love personalization so I'm excited with this idea.

I originally was going to order personalized chair sashes from www.wedowed.com but really didn't want to spend the $40+ dollars for two chair sashes to only be used for four and a half hours. I also couldn't get past the what are we going to do with them after the wedding question.

I found a solution to that one day while shopping at a TJ Maxx store. They had a whole section of Martha Stewart and Gartner Studios wedding supplies like invite kits and favor boxes and such. I decided to take a look even though I already had my invites and favor containers and then what did I find? Cute lil black and white chair marker kits that came two in a pack for $1.99!! A perfect solution to my bride and groom chair personalization problem. You can already guess that I bought them. I love finding the things that I want for a great price!!



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Centerpieces: The Restart

In my other centerpiece post I touched on not liking my flowers and starting my centerpieces all over and in my "love in roses" post, you saw the roses I purchased which just in case I didn't make it clear then, I LOVE!!

Upon putting the centerpiece together, not even half way thru assembling the roses, I already knew that I was going to love it. Not only do the roses look better than the other ones but they give my cents a more elegant look and I love that.

Don't mind the crooked pictures. Apparently, I need to learn to hold the camera straight.




Now the only thing I'm thinking of changing is the feathers. I'm thinking of getting longer more full ones. What do you think?

Love in Roses

Remember my post about no liking the flowers that I had ordered? Well I ordered the flowers I initially loved and they are perfect. I should've ordered them in the first place. A huge lesson on how not to second guess yourself. Lesson learned.

I was excited when the new/old flowers arrived and couldn't wait to get started with arrangements. I had new ideas for the look of my arrangements which included feathers! They arrived back in the middle of the week but I didn't have time to even touch them until yesterday. As I stated in "I'm back" my son was ill and I was busy nursing him back to health.

Unlike before, where I started with the centerpieces, this time I started with the bouquets and bouts. The crazy part about this situation is that I had already completed the bouts but with the new flowers, had to do them again so that they matched the bouquets. No biggie tho, I had new design ideas for the bouts anyway so it worked out.

The Bouquets....

I know, I know, you wan't to see pictures. I'm coming with that, hold on a sec. Lol. Keep in mind that the flowers are a deep apple red not pink as for some reason they look in the photos. Each maid of honor bouquet has a pearl pin at the center of each rose and pearl sprays. My bouquet has a crystal pin at the center of each flower and is accented by pearl flower pins and black feathers. All bouquet handles have been wrapped in my now infamous black and white damask fabric and black ribbon has been arranged at the base of the bell.

Maids of Honor Bouquets:






Bridal Bouquet:







Note: Since I took these photos, I have moved the feathers in the middle down lower on the bouquet which looks much better.

The Bouts

All the bout vases were covered in damask fabric. The first pic is of all the best men's bouts which are accented my pearls to match the maid of honor bouquets. The last two pics are of my hubby to be's (on the left) and my son's (on the right), which are accented by cystals and feathers. The hubby to be's is also accented by a pearl flower pin like in my bouquet.

I'm back....

Hey. I was gone for a little while there because my son was ill. First pink eye, then bronchitis and then a terrible cold. So yea, mommy duties called. He was born early and so his immune system has never really gained full strength. He gets sick often but he's better now. So anyway, I'm back with lots to say and lots of new projects and adventures in DIY.

Oh and by the way:

WE ONLY HAVE 3 MONTHS TIL OUR WEDDING: JUNE 19TH, 2010!!!

WOOT!! LOL!

The Shirts on their Backs

You may or may not know that I wanted to make personalized shirts for my girls to wear the day of the wedding. My first thought was to go with a t-shirt but a fellow bee pointed out that a hoodie would be better because they just zip off and won't mess up the girl's hair or makeup. Valid point, well taken.

I then went on the hunt for short sleeved white hoodies which, I never could find. I must have searched every store and online site that I thought would have something of the sort with no luck at all. Then a fellow bee, gotta love those girls, put up a post about short sleeved white hoodies at Old Navy. I was super stoked!! (Do people even say that anymore? Ha!) Anywho, I promptly bought 4 of them, 3 for my girls and 1 for myself of course.

They arrived in about 2-3 days, give or take a day. I was so excited to get them. I took them home (I get just about everything shipped to my office) and using the same technique that I used to make their totes (Totes of the Town), I created these cuties:






Aren't they adorable?

Totes of the Town: The Finale!

I know you're like what the heck took her so long to post the finale to this series of posts. Well let me just tell ya, I totally screwed up the first tote that I did for myself. Yea, I was not happy to say the least.

I left the iron on one part of it for to long and the iron-on transfer did not take correctly and you can't take this stuff off once it's on so a word of warning: be careful! Because of my little mishap, I had to order another tote for myself. Thank God they're only $3 right!?!

I've actually had the tote for well over a week now and just couldn't find the time to create it until today. I'm happy to say that it came out perfecto!!

Take a peek!!


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Now for my totes gift bags for my flowergirls!!

A Picture Perfect Thank You

While browsing Yahoo images one day searching for a great thank you card idea. I came across this adsolutely cutie pie photo:



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I mean,can they be any cuter? I love this photo and well I want to be a copycat. I love the idea and how personal it is rather than just sending a boring ole' card that says "thank you" on it. Adding a photo like this will give them a little pizazz while making them more personal.

It was quite easy to create my sign. I did it in like 20 minutes....no joke.

1. White Poster Board (Dollar Tree)
2. Black Poster Board (Dollar Tree)
3. Damask Letters (Michaels)




And since we're getting married in large park on the lake front, I had to make one that pointed our guests in the direction of our wedding.



I have got to stop looking at wedding photos because I just keep coming up with more things to add and since I'm a total DIYer, that means more for me to make! Geesh!

Centerpieces: My Indecisiveness Rears It's Ugly Head ;-(

So the more and more that I look at the centerpiece that I created the more and more I don't like the flowers. Wierd huh? I love the piece itself and how I put it together, it's just the flowers I'm not feeling. So, I'm in the process of finding some I can love unconditionally. Not surprised, I've changed my mind a thousand times over on other things in the wedding as well. Lol. The life of an indecisive bride.

Any words of advice?

Airbrush Me Beautiful

Airbrush makeup, the stars having been doing this for years. It's how they get that perfect look. I don't care how many makeup lines they endorse, they're being airbrushed.

I opted to have this sort of makeup done for my wedding. After searching feverishly as there are not that many makeup artist in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who do this, I finally found Britney Schneider. I looked over her website (www.blushbybritney.com) thouroughly and it all looked great but there was only one problem no women of color so, I emailed her and asked her quite simply if she had ever worked with any women of color. She emailed me back almost right away and stated that she had however, none of the brides had ever released any photos to her and thus the reason there were none on her site. Crisis averted much to my relief.

I had my makeup trial back in January and I loved it!! I mean I loved it! It was beautiful and glam and just what I wanted. After she left my home that day, I started wondering how I could get that look on a much smaller scale for my day to day wear and then, I saw the infomercial for Luminess Air. In case you haven't seen it, Luminess Air is an at home airbrush makeup system.

I am the biggest skeptic when it comes to products on infomercials but recently have lighted up after buying a Presto Pizzaz Pizza Over which I absolutely love and the Strap-Perfect bra strap thingies, love those to. So Last month I ordered a Luminess Air (www.luminessair.com). It looked easy enough on the infomercials. Sidenote: This system is much cheaper if you order from the Home Shopping Netework's website, which is where I ordered my system.



It came rather quickly and I let it sit for about a week and a half til today. I watched the informational DVD and then went to town. They send you about 5-6 foundation shades and you must airbrush each one on the inside of your arm to find your perfect match. I must say that I am satisfied with the results. My skin is fairly oily and appears oily with any makeup I use. However, just dusting my face lightly with a loose finishing powder always corrects that issue. I believe that I made a great purchase.

Now don't get confused, I am still using my Makeup Artist Britney for my wedding day but I do believe that the Luminess Air is great for daily wear.

Before


After

Centerpieces: The Beginning

Some of you might and might not know where I stand on flowers. The man and I decided against fresh flowers because well we just did not want to spend that much money on something that would die in a few days, ya know? To each his/her own but not for us. So we of course then decided to use silks. I searched for a while for flowers that looked good in appearance but had an even better looking price.

I found these velvet roses on www.efavormart.com for $34.99 for 168. I ordered them in red and burgundy in the open rose version and white in the rose bud version.



And here's my centerpiece beginning:




I love how full they are and I love the height! I just love them in general! Lol.

Once I add all of the other elements, I think they'll be fabulous!

Vase Filler w/ Floralytes
Red and Clear Crystal Scatter
Crystals hanging from the arrangement
Four Red votives

Well, what do you think?