Shower the Newlyweds with Love

I can hardly believe my lucky find! I stumbled across the perfect petal toss cone template yesterday, and am here to share it with you today. Those of you who have been reading this from the beginning may remember my idea to use doilies for toss cones that I was going to stain with tea to make them look vintage. Well, trial after trial, I could not get the fragile pieces to stay together. Nor could I make them look anything other than a crumpled mess. Frustrated and out of ideas, I decided to step away from this project for awhile.

One day last month, I came across this photo:



I loved the clean, classic lines the parchment paper offered, and the script wording on the inside. However, each template I came across did not lend themselves to this type of cone construction.

While reading the blog Jumping the Broom, I finally found it! The perfect template! Here is the link, so you too may create these wonderful goodies!

http://broomjumpingbride.blogspot.com/2009/01/diypetal-cones.html

I bought ivory parchment paper from WalMart. A pack of 100 sheets is $8. Simple brown ribbon from Michael's Craft Store was on sale, 3 spools for $1. I went crazy and spent $5! I plan on filling them with fake fall leaves (found packages of 150 leaves at Dollartree!) I created a mock-up for this post, but have not quite decided how I want to place the ribbon. I like the idea of the above photo, so that each cone may be placed on the back of each ceremony chair, but am not sure about how to glue the ribbon on just yet.

Here is our very first toss cone:





Pricing:

Parchment Paper -- $18
Ribbon -- $5
Leaves -- $20 (I ended up buying most of my leaves in packs of 18 from Michael's, before I discovered the 150 for $1 deal, and so spent much more than I should have)

Total Cost: 30c per guest! (This number is based on 150 guests, and does not include the cost of ink for your printer)

Manzanitas in the fall

I have been obsessing over manzanita branches for awhile now. I love them. I love all the fun sparkly danglies that other brides have put on them. They look so incredibly glamorous. And for the longest time, that was that. Our wedding is not an over-the-top glamorous affair, and so, all I could do was enjoy the trees from afar, like this one:



Most of the displays I saw that did not involve these fun sparkly dangly items would involve fall leaves, such as this:



While this is an absolutely gorgeous display, we are not having a fall themed wedding, and with our colors being chocolate brown and hot pink, it would just not fit to have fall colors at the ceremony and reception as part of the brought-in decor. I'd like to leave that part to Mother Nature.

This morning I finally saw a manzanita branch display that would look amazing at the ceremony, and could easily coordinate with the reception decor!



I love the white flowers, although a peach color might be better for our color scheme and vintage theme. Too excited to share this idea with the florist! How would something like this look on either side of the ceremony setting?

Mr. and Mrs.

Too excited! My passion for this morning was wedding decor. Not the floral decor that I should be thinking about, but the small little details that add that special homemade wedding touch to photos.

This, dear reader, is my very first etsy purchase:



How cute are they? Such an adorable vintage touch for our photos!

DIY Tears of Joy Packets

Everyone cries at weddings. As FH would say, it's a "cheese explosion" (this is how he refers to the cheesy endings found in most romantic comedies). And so, I wanted to offer tissues to guests who may have forgotten, or not realized that they would need them.



Last week I went to Michael's (a local arts and crafts store) and gathered all the supplies I would need. This included:

Glassine envelopes
Craft Glue
Ribbon
Sticker Labels
Travel Tissues

Two tissues went into each envelope. Each spool of ribbon contained enough material for ten packets. And the labels were quick and easy to create using microsoft word and my printer. These will be placed in two baskets decorated with hot pink ribbon on a table at the ceremony entrance for guests.





PRICING:

Labels: $20 for 160
Glassine Envelopes: $6 for 100 (be sure and use those 40% Michael's coupons!)
Ribbon: $15 for 150 packets
Tissues: $4 for 4 packs, each containing 4 travel-size tissue packs
Craft Glue: $3

Final cost: less than 50c for each guest! All put together in less than 2 hours! Such a cute detail for low cost!

Success in the City!

FH and I went to visit our MOH and her wonderful husband this past weekend, who live near NYC. She very patiently took me around to all the different shops in the city where I could find wedding decor at a good price. I look at this trip as the "looking around" trip. I now know what is there, and at what price, and when I am more prepared to make purchases I will be back, cash in hand!

All in all, I think it was a successful trip. While the boys did their "manly thing" around the city, MOH and I hit up my new favorite store - Jacks. This is NYC's answer to the Christmas Tree Shops, with somehow better deals! It is here that I bought 6 hot pink chair sashes for the ceremony reserved seating aisles. Jacks has them listed at 99c each! The best I had been able to find them at prior this was $4 a piece!

The idea is to have the ceremony seating look something like this:



(of course, we opted to not have an aisle runner, our chairs will be white and the sashes pink, but you get the idea)

Also in the city, I was introduced to the beading district. I found multiple stores that offers fake pearls at $2-2.50 a strand. Perfect for our centerpieces! I ended up buying 3 of a champagne color, and will be back for more after the holiday season.

Next summer, when our wedding is closer, we will go back for out of town bag supplies, the rest of the pearls, and some finishing touches for the bridesmaid gifts. What a great resource to have so close to us!

A New Way of Life

I awoke at 6:30am on this grey morning, sat down on the sofa with my cup of coffee, and opened my laptop to a very disturbing email. According to brides.com, I only have 352 days until my wedding, and I should be well into my wedding diet by now. Does Taco Bell and twix count as diet foods? Hmmmm....

We have been pretty lazy about going to the gym lately. In fact, we haven't been since we got engaged back in May! Our monthly fee has become our "fat tax".

So much pressure is placed on brides to look their best for their wedding day. For an entire day, all eyes will be on you. Your photo will be looked at for generations to come. It is not only important to choose the right dress, but to look your best in it as well.

Starting today, I am getting back into the gym. We are going back to our low-fat, low-cal dinners, with healthy desserts (if any at all). It's time to buckle down and take this seriously!

And the DIY list grows....

Yesterday, during the hour of time I set aside each day for wedding-related activities, I came across the most wonderful blog!

http://snowflakemarshmallows.blogspot.com/

Please check her out. She is chock full of inspirational DIY goodies, and is more than willing to share the templates to them. It is because of her that I now have 3more DIY projects to add to my repertoire, including an Out of Town guest booklet, "tears of joy" tissues, and our guestbook!

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Something Old - Brings a sense of continuity
Something New - Adds an optomistic note
Something Borrowed - Superstition that happiness will rub off on the new bride
Something Blue - brings purity, fidelity and life

These are the traditional "must have" items for brides on their wedding day. Most brides will say their dress is their something new. Something old can be a vintage hair piece, some of your grandmother's jewelry, etc. Something borrowed? Perhaps your mother's wedding ring. These are the easy ones. It is the something blue where brides get the opportunity to be a little creative.

And as Carrie Bradshaw showed us in the Sex and the City movie, sometimes brides get a little too creative...



Other brides opt for the more understated Sex and the City homage by sporting these $850 Manolo Blahnik "something blue" heels.



Still others paint their toes.



Brides also choose to have a peek-a-boo of hidden blue crinolin underneath their gowns.



Or on their handkerchief.



You could have "something blue" jewelry



Or "shoe-welry"



My two absolute favorites though, are the underwear and garter. Can you have two something blues?





The options are limitless. I am sure there are craftier brides than I out there with other blue ideas. What will you choose?

12 Months To Go!

I just received my 12 month email from The Knot! In 365 days we will officially be a "Mr. and Mrs."!! We are celebrating our "pre-anniversary" tonight with the new Katherine Hiegl chick flick - Life As We Know It.

On the list for this month is to mail out the bridesmaid packets, a special little folder I put together for all the girls informing them of what dress I'd like them to wear, as well as a promise to not become a dreaded "bridezilla". Once all the girls have them they can get measured, and order their dresses!



Also on the to-do list is to mail out the Save the Dates! Looks like there will be quite a few post office trips in our near future!