One Year!

Exactly one year from now I will be marrying that man of my dreams and love of my life! I am so excited and cannot wait! I know this year will fly by though and our day will be here before we know it.

I sure hope that the weather on our big day is MUCH nicer than the weather this May 1st. Start praying about it now!

In Favor of Favors....Not So Much

Who ever said you had to give your guests a favor? I don't think anyone ever did. In my opinion, I think the whole idea of "favors" was thought up by someone in the wedding industry with the hopes of making even more money off your "special day". Once again, in my opinion, allowing your guests to be part of the most special day of your life is enough of a gift. Why on earth do they need some cheap trinket only to leave it all together or throw it away later on? Why spend the money on an edible favor when it just gets eaten!? You're already feeding your guests a meal (at least of some sorts) and cake. I don't think anything else is needed.

I've been to weddings with and without favors. The weddings that had favors were edible favors. A nice touch but who really needs the added sugar, calories and fat? And unless you go with something really pricey, like handmade candies or cookies, to me edible favors say this "I was too cheap to get anything else and didn't want to put any thought into what I should give as favors." If you wouldn't have a use for the favor or wouldn't want the favor in your home what on earth makes you think your guests would?? Now, the weddings I've been to that didn't have favors...I never even noticed there weren't favors! So why oh why would you spend all that extra money?? Please see exhibits A and B:

Bad Favors (Source)

Good Favors (Source)

Are favors a nice touch? Absolutely. When a lot of thought is put into them and they are something that is useful and practical and you have the budget for them go for it!

However, on my shoe string budget I don't have the extra cash to be able to do favors. When you're talking about inviting 250 guests even a favor at a buck a piece is too much. Had I been able to splurge and do favors I would have. Want to know what I was thinking of giving? Personalized pens that were in our wedding colors with a message from us thanking our guests for celebrating with us. Yeah you read right, pens. Everyone always needs another pen. I know in my house when I need one I can't find one. Pens are so incredibly practical and I knew they would without a doubt be put to use! And if you do your research you can find them for less than $0.75 a piece! What a steal right? As much as I'd like to be able to carry out that idea there are lots of other things that money can go towards.

Oh and let me quickly address the issue of bubbles being considered favors. In my opinion, they are not favors. I will have bubbles for my guests to use while we "get away" (more on them later) but I do not consider them a favor. I bought them because that's what I wanted when it was time to leave for the honeymoon. And what use would my guests have for bubbles as "favors"? None. Unless they have little children, then they can be used for entertainment purposes. lol

So to sum all this up, I will not be having favors for my guests. I will have bubbles but they are not favors. :)

What's your take on favors? What about the always asked question about bubbles being the favor?

The Dress

For those who couldn't check out my blog while it was still private I feel I should let you in on some of the details of my dress. I will not however be posting any pictures of it or of me in it on this blog. I know without a doubt that my Mr. would look and I can't go and have him see me in my dress now can I!

Years ago (way before I met my Mr.) I somehow discover Maggie Sottero and her incredible wedding dress designs. I loved so many of her dresses. The attention to detail was just incredible. So from that moment on, I knew I wanted a Maggie dress.

And a Maggie dress I got! I was soo excited! I had a very good idea of what I wanted in a dress and let me tell you that is a HUGE help not only to you but to your consultant as well. Before you go in looking for a dress, do your research and know at least some of what you want. I had been eying a few dresses from her website and had those in mind to try on. I was however really surprised and disappointed that the dresses they had in specifically for the trunk show were a size 6. For real? I mean come on now. To me it seems like a bigger size would be better for the one and only sample. Smaller girls can be "clipped" into the dress bigger girls are just out of luck. So a number of the dresses I would have liked to try on I couldn't. You see, I am NO size 6 or ever close to a size six. I've got curves baby! lol

I think I tried on a total of like 6 or 7 dresses. Not too many in my opinion. The first one I tried on is ultimately the one I bought. I wasn't too sure about it at first I mean I liked it but I just wasn't head over heels for it. However, I liked it enough to keep in the "try again" pile. I tried on the other dresses and found one that I really loved and even though it was "the one" at first. But I still had the first dress to try on again. After I put it on for the second time and went out to the big mirrors I fell in love. It was wayyy more flattering than the other dress was. The longer I had it on the more I loved it and the more I didn't want to take it off! lol It has everything I've ever wanted in a wedding dress; all over lace, embroidery, beading, crystals and a corset back. It's a strapless dress which I had originally wanted to stay away from but after trying on a number of neckline styles, strapless looked the best on me.

Here's the description of my dress from the website: "One-piece, strapless semi-fitted A-line corset back gown. Romantic lace over satin gown featuring a gentle side pleated detailing. The skirt lace overlay falls in a delicate circular shape providing fullness at the hem." Let me tell you, that description doesn't begin to do it justice! The color is called Ivory/Pewter (which looked better with my skin tone than white). The Pewter color is found on the detailed embroidery and is a silver metallic thread. Here are two teaser pictures of my dress. The first one shows the all over lace detail and the second shows the beading work and embroidery. I don't think they'll give away too much if my Mr. happens upon this blog. You'll have to wait for the full pictures till after the wedding! :)

(Source: yours truly)

Sorry the pics are a bit on the poor quality side, I was in a rush to take them. Click on the pics above for a larger image.

Did you find the dress of your dreams the first time you went to try dresses on or did it take several times before you found "the one"?

Floral Ideas and Inspiration Part 2

Time for the ceremony floral ideas! First off a beautiful Baby's Breath Garland as seen below. Mine will NOT have the paper birds hanging from it! haha I love this look of this so much. So delicate but at the same time it gets your attention. Baby's Breath is cheap and we'd be able to make this in advance by drying the Baby's Breath instead of using fresh which would wilt. Where would I put it? Somewhere above and around the entrance to the gazebo perhaps? I'm thinking we'll be standing in front of the gazebo. See below pics.

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Aisle chair decoration ideas and info will come at a later date. The idea is in my head and I don't have all of the materials needed to complete what I have in mind and test it out. So more on that in the future.

Reception floral ideas and inspiration! I'm super excited that I've finally committed to a centerpiece design. A little more about that in "Good News and a Few Updates". I cannot wait until my supplies come in and I can actually see if what I have in mind works. I'm going to give you a teaser and show you my inspiration photo for the centerpieces but will leave you hanging on the details until I can try making one. The inspiration...

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I will have one big arrangement at my wedding and it will be placed somewhere on one of the buffet tables. Below is my inspiration for the arrangement.

(Source: unknown)

I love the shape of this arrangement but will be changing a lot about it...mainly that mine will have a lot more purple to it. I also found the perfect vase for it, an apothecary jar...

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The jar will be filled with Clear Water Pearls that I found on sale at Michael's. What are Water Pearls? These polymer pearls are created by simply adding water and can hold 100 times their weight in water! This causes the water absorbent beads to expand into perfect miniature spheres. Water Pearls are reusable and are non-toxic and biodegradable. Here's what they look like...

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I haven't tried out the water pearls yet but hope to this weekend so I really know how they work.

Well, I think that's about it for now.

What are your floral decor ideas for your ceremony and reception sites? Did you utilize the internet to get your inspiration?

Keep an eye out for more details in the days to come!

Floral Ideas and Inspiration Part 1

Let me start out by saying that I wish I had an unlimited budget. lol I am a huge flower lover and if I had no budget I would go crazy with flowers. Unfortunately, I have a budget....and a small one at that compared to most weddings now a days. So getting very creative is a must! My mom is going to play the role of my florist because she actually worked for a florist when she was in college and has some mad skills! So between the two of us, getting extra creative to make a big floral impact without the cost shouldn't be a problem.

First off I will share my bouquet inspiration. I've always known I would want a purple bouquet but wasn't sure which flowers it would include until I saw the following photo over at The Brides Cafe check it out:

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Love it yet? I fell in love the first time I saw it. The flowers are dark purple Lisianthus. Aren't they stunning? I love how much the color "pops" against the white dress. So this will pretty much be the look of my bouquet with some changes like some grasses over the flowers like in the picture below.

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For my matron of honor and bridesmaid (yep, only two attendants, more on that at a later date) I want some kind of white bouquet...possibly with a little purple in there too. Why white you ask? Because they will be in dark purple dresses and I want their flowers to show up and not disappear. I am toying with the idea of using silk flowers for their bouquets. Why? Because it would save a lot of money, would be one less thing my mom would have to do the day before/day of the wedding, and would act as a keepsake for my girls. When I was in my best friend Lindsey's (my matron of honor, more on her later) wedding, I wanted to save my bouquet because it was so pretty. However I was unable to do so because it was mostly made up of daisies and they didn't dry well.

Silk flowers have come a longgggg way from what they used to be. If you know where to look, you can find silks that look just like real flowers and sometimes feel just like them. Mom and I are venturing out to Knoxville on Friday after work to hit Michael's and Hobby Lobby in the hopes that we'll be able to get some ideas for the attendants bouquets once we can actually see the silks in person. So this is kind of what I have in mind for them with the possibility of some added purple, White Spider Mums:

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I love that they aren't too "bride" looking but still beautiful and light and fluffy looking.

Bouts....I am also considering using silk flowers for the guys boutonnieres. My brother got married on the 18th and his bout was smashed to smithereens after hugging so many people. Now there were several factors that helped his bout get so smashed; he's tall so most people he hugged ended up with their face against his bout and it was made of daisies (very fragile flowers.) So those two things certainly weren't working in favor of it lasting and looking beautiful in pictures. It got me thinking though because I certainly don't want my guys' bouts to get all smashed up and look terrible in pictures. (Yes, I really do think about the little details that much.) I will not be using daisies in anything at my wedding so I won't have that to worry about and my man is shorter than my brother so the height factor won't be an issue for the smashing either. But guys just aren't normally delicate with flowers anyways so I don't think I could go wrong with silks. As for the design and look of the bouts...I'll have to get back to you on that one cause I don't have a clue.

Corsages....will be hand made with a combination of silk and real preserved flowers. More on the design of those later.

Ok this is getting long so I'll go into the ceremony and reception floral inspiration and ideas next.

Good News and a Few Updates

Over the weekend I worked on a new personal budget. With the help of my mom I was able to determine that despite having to cover my own health insurance I can still save $350 a month towards wedding costs. Praise God! :)

In other news...my mom and I have an appointment on Thursday evening with Emily Herrod the owner of the Bed & Breakfast where the wedding and reception will be held. It will be a short meeting though because she will be getting ready to go out of town for almost a month! Once she gets back in town at the end of May, we'll have a more lengthy and detailed meeting with her.

I've had my eye on several Mori Lee "Affairs" Bridesmaid dresses for sometime now. At the end of May, I will know for sure if the designs I've been eying will still be available! Once I find out which dresses are still available and can share that info with my attendants, I will be able to share them with you!

I placed a HUGE order with Save-on-crafts.com over the weekend and cannot wait until it comes in! With the help of my mom and hours spent surfing the net I finally have my reception centerpieces figured out! I had been very undecided about what I wanted until this past weekend. All the centerpieces will be DIY projects and I cannot wait to share my vision and then process with you!

Over the weekend, I also ordered our cake topper! Once it comes in I will share that with you all as well!

Are you waiting for a big order to come in so you can get started with a DIY project?

Up next: my floral inspiration.

More purple and more sparkles!

So today I finally get to show off the stunning clutch I found on Ebay! I had been on the search for a purple clutch and was unable to find one I fell in love with. And to make things more difficult, most of the clutches I found were upwards of $50! I didn't want to spend that much on a clutch. So for a while I gave up the search. You'll have to forgive me that I can't remember what blog I saw the store link on because I don't remember. The Ebay store I found my clutch at is HK Department Store and I highly recommend them! They have excellent prices! So without going on any longer here it is:

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Goregous no? It has everything I wanted in a clutch; it's purple, rhinestones, shoulder strap, larger size but not too big and opens wide. And the best part...including shipping from Hong Kong, it was only $21.08!!! Score!

Now on to the sparkly item I want to share with you. I had been on the search for a vintage rhinestone brooch to use on my bouquet. And ladies let me tell you, Etsy is the place to look! There are tons of beautiful brooches at great prices so if you're on the hunt for one be sure to check there! As you might guess, I found mine on Etsy from seller Cottage Antiques. Here it is:

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I'll try and get some better pics of it up sometime this week. It is exactly what I was looking for and I love it sooo much! Not to mention the fact that it sparkles like crazy in the light! This is the look I'm going for with the brooch and bouquet:

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I will be placing my brooch up closer to the flowers. I can't wait to see what it looks like but I have a while to wait yet!

Hair Bling

When I went to the bridal salon and found my dress and veil, Carolyn my amazing consultant suggested that I have a comb above my veil. I liked the sound of her idea and this is ultimately what she had me try:

(Source: my friend Javiera)

I did NOT like the look of the beading on this comb. There were too many pearls and I just plain didn't like it. Not to mention that unless we read the price tag wrong it was $115.00! Are you serious!? So yeah, that comb was a no go but I did like the overall look of having some detailing there. So my quest for a comb began. I scoured Etsy, Ebay and the net in search of the perfect comb. Found a few ideas here and there but nothing that I really just loved. And I kept running into that high price issue too. I can't believe a plastic comb with some metal and beading detail could be so expensive!

One day while scouring Etsy I came across this beauty:

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Beautiful no? I think so. I was in love. Those are vintage rhinestone earrings on the comb. Very cool way to re-purpose them! And the price was just right at $17.50 with free shipping! Woo hoo! The listing said it was 3" long and I wasn't sure if that would be long enough because I didn't have my veil in hand at the time. I immediately e-mailed Carolyn and asked her to measure the comb she had me try on the day I was at the salon. She got back to me saying it was 4" long. I debated for a little bit as to whether or not I should go ahead and get the comb from Etsy even though it might not be long enough. I decided to get it. I mean for $17.50 I had to at least try it!

Once I had it in hand and had my veil also I soon discovered that it was in fact too short and didn't look right. But I knew when I bought it that I would be taking that chance. I e-mailed the seller to ask what kind of glue she used to put it together and explained that I was going to have to get creative and use the earrings on another longer comb. I was a little apprehensive about removing the earrings from the comb because I didn't want to damage them in the process. However, they were pretty easy to get off.

I was now on the search of more vintage rhinestone jewelry to see if I could find some pieces to extend the existing design. I started my search in my very own collection. When I was little, my Grandma gave me almost all of her costume jewelry...which included several pairs of rhinestone earrings and a few rhinestone necklaces. To my astonishment I had a pair of earrings that went perfectly with the earrings from the Etsy comb! I was so happy! Now the hard part. How to make a new longer comb, use the same design that the Etsy seller had come up with, incorporate the "new" earrings and make it stable and strong. Unfortunately, I didn't think to get pictures of the earrings from my Grandma before hand or pictures of the DIY process. However, here is a step by step guide of what I did:

-I ran into WalGreens after work one day and they had hair combs on clearance 2 for $2 so I bought two packs. They were black wire combs like they used to make years ago. They weren't the right length but I was confident that I could somehow combine two combs to get the length I needed. My mom who is also very crafty helped me with that part and actually unwound the wire on one of the combs to make one comb and then re-did the wiring. It came out to be the perfect length!
-After carefully working the existing earrings off the comb I was able to remove them without harm. I had to take the earrings from my Grandma apart to be able to work them into the design but that was fine by me. However, I was having a hard time trying to visualize the design layout over the new comb I because the earrings kept sliding off due to the fact that the comb is curved. To solve this problem and to make sure I would be able to get them glued in the right place and also to add some stability I did the following:
-I sewed the earrings onto some thin black fabric using clear nylon thread so it wouldn't be seen. This allowed me to get the design layout just as I wanted it without having to worry about gluing pieces in the wrong place or have them slide out of place once glued on the comb.
-Once I had everything sewed in place, I took some Judi Kins Diamond Glaze (Water based dimensional adhesive) that I had on had from some glass pendants I had made. I brushed it on the back of the fabric knowing that in doing so it would cause the fabric to stiffen (it dries clear). This also served as fray check so I could trim the black fabric down so it wouldn't show.
-Next I trimmed all the way around the piece to remove the excess black fabric. That was a little hard because of the angles and curves and because I had to be really careful not to cut any of the threads on the back that hold the earrings to the fabric.
-Then I decided to glue the whole piece onto another piece of black fabric to stabilize it even more. Before I did the gluing though I brushed Judi Kins Diamond Glaze onto the new piece of fabric so that it would be stiff before I began gluing. Once glued (used a hot glue gun) and dried, I again set out to trimming the access fabric.
-Once that was all done it was time to glue the whole piece onto the comb. I used a hot glue gun to secure the design piece to the comb. And then added a strip of Grosgrain black ribbon over the glue line so nothing could get caught in my hair.

The earrings that came on the comb I purchased from the Etsy seller are in the same general area on my new comb as they were on the one I originally purchased. I added pieces of the earrings from my Grandma to each end to extend the design and also added a piece to the middle to create a "tiara" like effect so that it would have a little more height to it and because it looked like something was missing there. Here's the finished product (forgot to get pictures of it in place with the veil but you can visualize):
The below picture shows the earrings from the Etsy seller and pieces of the earrings from my Grandma. Sorry it's crappy quality, I'm too poor to have Photoshop.

(Source for the above 4 photos: yours truly)

So what do you think? I LOVE how it came out!! Going into this DIY, I had no idea that I would end up with such great results!

Were you stunned by the results of a DIY project you attempted?