Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Our DIY Centerpieces - Tutorial

That's right, I'm doing our centerpieces and they are way more simple to assemble than those pesky invitations. Since we're not having a sit down dinner, we're having about 6-8 tabels inside that seat 6 people each. This way people don't have to stand and eat but they can just sit and get up as they please. No assigned seating. There are also picnic tables out on the deck so people can take a break from dancing but I'm pretty sure that there won't be any of these centerpieces on the outdoor tables. I defnitely wanted to keep them simple, classic, and close to the table. So here it goes.

I started out with a round, flat vase that I found at the Dollar Tree for (you guessed it) $1.00 each:



I went to Hobby Lobby and found bunches of tulips that were fifty percent off. I bought about six bunches (3 yellow and 3 white) for $3.50/ea. Before I started, I cut the wire stems to about 2 inches in length and removed the plastic tubing around them to make it easier to stick them in the foam.




You'll also need, a green foam block to keep them in place (I cut the one I bought in half with a knife because it was taller than the vase), double sided tape, and I used 2.25in Christmas ribbon that was the perfect width for the vase (bought after Christmas: 60 ft. for $2.50).

1. Wrap the ribbon once around the vase and secure it with the double-sided tape. Then place the green foam square inside.



2. Now begin assembling flowers.


3. Once I arranged all of the flowers, I sort of "fluffed" them up to fill all of the space. And "TADA", they are done.

Here's a picture of the yellow and white:


Total cost for all centerpiece material:
Flowers (6 bushels): $21.00
Vases (8): $8.00
Foam Blocks (4): $5.00
Ribbon (alot): $2.50
GRAND TOTAL: $36.50
(Pretty good, huh?)

Sunday, March 28, 2010

It's 4:00AM

I'm slightly delirious... but on the bright side the invitations are done.

Good nigh....zzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzz

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Invitations will be the death of me.

I. am. so. sick of making invitations!!!!

It's a never ending cycle of reasons why they cannot just be finished. It's "I ran out of paper" or another person gets added to the guest list or "I don't have their address." It is really frustrating and I just want them done.

But moments like this do make me realize I have the best fiance ever!!

Me after I realized I made the last ten invitations with the border colors switched: "It's times like this that I really wish we had just bought invitations"

Josh: "Yeah, but they are so cute and they are something that no one else will ever have at their wedding! I'm really glad you're doing it!"

Ahhhh, he's the best. I can just imagine some other couple out there in this sort of situation where the man would have responded "Uh, yeeeahh we shoouuld have bought invitations but you just haaaad to make them". This makes me feel sad and very very lucky.

Now, time to sleeeeeep! I'll finish these later. Maybe this weekend. Hopefully!

Monday, March 22, 2010

My Spring Break

Josh and I went home for Spring break and just got back home this evening. It was definitely a whirlwind but we got so much done. Everything that couldn't be done because of school and/or work got done in this week and thank heavens it did because I'd probably pull my hair out if nothing got scratched off that ever growing to-do list.

While at home we visited both venues, ordered our cake, reserved rental items, finalized the guest list, met with our preacher, and I got my dress altered. In addition to that list, we also got to spend a lot of time with our families together and separately. All-in-all, it was a really great trip.

When we got back home, we launched right into registering for gifts and apartment hunting. Now these are two adventures not to be left out.

Apartment hunting came first. We had been looking at a specific place that was a bit out of our price range before our "vacation". We scrambled over there as soon as we could to look at apartments because our lease is up at the end of May and we were feeling very behind in the "new home hunting" process. We fell in love with a two bedroom/two bath apartment with full washer and dryer connections (praise the lord!), a porch, and more than one closet!! There was one available for the second week in June. That night and the next day we went through our finances and all of our expected income and expenses to see if we could do it. We can! The next day we started the application process on our new apartment! I couldn't be more relieved. Nothing is more stressful than looking for a place to live. I'm so terrified to end up with a roach infested, hell-hole with crappy management, but that is not the case with this place. Yay!

Now the registrering for gifts is also a cute little story. We decided to only register at Target because we already live together and have most of what we need, and most people have access to a target. We got about halfway through our list of things we wanted when we came upon the "Pot & Pan" aisle. We were probably in that one aisle for 30 mintues going back and forth between sets. Once the bickering started we (mostly he) knew it was time to head home and come back on Sunday to finish. I wasn't quite ready to give up the scanner yet and I managed to get in the awesome vacuum cleaner I spotted before he dragged me out of the store. The next day we finished up the registry and no fights broke out!

*Oh and important note about Target!!!! If you are registering there, for the love of all that's holy, check your registery often. When we went back on Sunday, there was baby lotion on our list! I had heard some things about Target adding baby items to wedding registries and my boss who recently got married said her mother-in-law called in the middle of the night before they were married and asked why in the world there were diapers on their list! Scary!

So, I'll say this just incase something gets by us, if you are our family and you're reading this: There is nothing in the oven! The oven is absolutely empty!

And to finish up this productive week, today Josh and I opened our joint bank accounts and I mailed out the first batch of invitations. Now back to school work!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Check: THE DRESS!!!!

**Sorry I didn't post about this earlier!**

I have a dress! I seriously bought it on a whim a couple of weeks ago after I got this email:When I started looking for wedding gowns online I decided to sign up for each sites' email notifications. Usually I don't do that because I don't want a bunch of spam in my inbox, but I said "Why the heck not?" Then I got a message from Alfred Angelo saying that two locations near my were moving to a new location and selling their sample dresses for 50% off!!!! It was definitely a gamble going, as they didn't have too much left but I ended up finding the one.

The original price tag was $799.00. How much did I pay for it? $374.50! I saved $424.50 and the dress is in great condition. I also ended up buying a cathedral length veil for $59.50 as well (because they too were 50% off). All in all, I spent $469.81 (including tax) for my gorgeous dress and veil.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Photographer? Check!!

We found our photographer a few days ago. I mentioned here that we were having a bit o' trouble finding a photographer that really understood what we wanted.

Well, we found one. Ben is someone that Josh and I went to high school with and he's really a wonderful photographer. He offered to take our little, one-hour bride and groom session for $75.00, put the photos on a CD and let us print out whichever ones we wanted! That, my friends. is an amazing deal!

Even better though, is that I feel like I'm supporting local talent, because he really is a great photographer and I am beyond thrilled that he will be taking our photos.

Honeymoon? Check!

Another HUGE thing off the list, thanks to my amazing aunt and uncle. As their gift to us, they bought our honeymoon trip. Those pictures from the top of my honeymoon inspiration post? Yeah, that's where we're headed!

That's right, 6 days and 5 nights in a four star, all-inclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico!!!! I couldn't be more flipping excited! It's a huge thing out of the way, that I didn't think we were going to be able to do!

To my Uncle Scott and Aunt Brandi: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!