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!!


.

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:



source

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?

Covering the Cameras

While browsing the bee one day I came across a post by a Bee Blogger who had made her own disposable camera covers. I thought this was the coolest idea that I had see in a while and since we were doing the on table cameras I decided to make myself some.

I tried using the template provided by that bee but couldn't get the template to download so I instead searched the web for another template and came across this one (http://www.thecraftypc.com/discamskin.html).





Getting the text and design lined up correctly was a royal pain but payed off and was cute in the end and it was cheaper then buying personalized cameras from a vendor.

Dressed to Impress: The One

I just realized that I haven't posted my dress yet. Before I do, let me warn those that hate dresses with pickups that I love them and my dress is full of them!!

When i first went dress shopping, I was so sure that I knew what I wanted. Ball gown, sparkle, strapless and layers upon layers of tulle. This is the dress that I thought would trump all dresses. I loved this dress even back years ago when I myself was a bridal consultant at David's Bridal and was extatic to see them bring it back last year.



Well I was wrong. Omg! Did I just admit to being wrong about something. Yep well, I was. I didn't like it all. The day I tried it on, I found out that the poofy ball gown was not for me at all. I liked the A-line gowns so much more and the satin gowns with the pickups just stood out.

When I tried on "the one" I knew it right away. I felt so much different in it than all the other dresses that I tried on plus the fact that I didn't want to take it off. I paid for it that day and took it home.

Here's the model wearing it, doing it no justice:



And then here's me:





Oh how I love her. I've had this dress for over a year now. I had dress doubts for a minute because I hadn't looked at it for a while but then I pulled it out to show my MIL and fell in love all over again. I'm happy with her and can't wait to wear her on my day!!