Mrs. Avocado, SeattleAge and Occupation: 23, StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, ConsultantEngagement Date: July 27, 2008Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 30, 2008Venue: LDS Seattle Temple & Hotel 1000About Me: Somehow this little farm girl found herself a genuine Pole to fall in love and eventually move away to Poland with. I am an LDS bride attempting to plan a private religious ceremony, ring ceremony, seated reception for 100, and an open house while coordinating for guests flying in from across the United States and as far away as Poland. I try to avoid fads, excess waste, and saturated fat. I strongly endorse photography, DDR, calorie counting, rss feeds, cooking, and utilizing your resources.
We found this chandelier for $27 at the wholesale floral outlet. It was perfect, except we can’t burn candles at our venue. I think the plastic electric ones always look fakey, so I wanted to come up with something that would still look cool without a flame or light coming from the chandelier. The ring ceremony is at 4:30 in a glass enclosed atrium, so I don’t think the light would show that much anyway.
Mrs. Avocado, SeattleAge and Occupation: 23, StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, ConsultantEngagement Date: July 27, 2008Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: June 30, 2008Venue: LDS Seattle Temple & Hotel 1000About Me: Somehow this little farm girl found herself a genuine Pole to fall in love and eventually move away to Poland with. I am an LDS bride attempting to plan a private religious ceremony, ring ceremony, seated reception for 100, and an open house while coordinating for guests flying in from across the United States and as far away as Poland. I try to avoid fads, excess waste, and saturated fat. I strongly endorse photography, DDR, calorie counting, rss feeds, cooking, and utilizing your resources.
I’m working on a project that I am not completely ready to reveal yet, something with a little bit of crystal vintage glam. You may be able to figure out what it is from this photo…..
Please ignore the cheesy and overdone vignette around the candle, I just wanted to hide the background a little bit so that the big reveal of one of my favorite DIY wedding details would be a little bit of a surprise.
Miss Cherry Pie, Seattle/Polebridge, MontanaAge and Occupation: 25, Marketing Communications SpecialistFiance's Age and Occupation: 28, Nurse PractitionerEngagement Date: August 26, 2006Wedding Date: September 2008Blogging Since: April 1, 2008Venue: A tiny town just outside of Glacier National ParkAbout Me: I think of life as a journey and I love the places it's taking me! I went to school to study Magazine Journalism, ended up with a second major in Japanese language, and now work at a company that makes software for libraries. I love writing, computers, photography, and the great outdoors. I spend most of my time playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band or geeking out online with Mr. Cherry Pie. I'm happiest when I'm on the road, especially traveling abroad, or just nesting quietly at home with my sweetie, who is a fabulous cook and bakes a delicious rendition of a certain cherry-filled dessert!
Do you have a metric ton of tin cans in your recycle bin? Well holy smokes, so do I! At least, I did until I decided to use them for our wedding, and then we had a metric ton of tin cans in our freezer.
Allow me to explain. A while ago, I received a can lantern for my birthday. This funky bit of recycled goodness was a gift from my sister, purchased for next to nothing at Portland’s infamous Saturday market. It looked a little something like this:
Seriously, how cool is that? And if one thing pairs well with mason jar vases to complement a rustic vibe, it’s tin can lanterns.
But the type of lantern above requires either a dremel or a torch, neither of which I own. So, I decided to undertake my own variety, using the tools I had on hand. Read more…
Mrs. Green Tea, SacramentoAge and Occupation: 30, Tea AnalystFiance's Age and Occupation: 31, Coffee CriticEngagement Date: November 17, 2006Wedding Date: August 23, 2008Blogging Since: June 10, 2008Venue: Vineyard on the DeltaAbout Me: I'm just your average obsessive compulsive, arts & crafts loving, funky-on-the-inside/boring-on-the-outside girl, who dares to say 'Hey! I can make that!' Nerdy professional by day, goofy won-ton by night. The won-ton sometimes comes out during the day when I'm fed the dollar breakfast at Ikea. Since our engagement, wedding planning has put me on high alert for bargains and I've been pushing my nimble fingers through callous building experiments!
I needed long burning tea lights for the centerpieces. What I found were pricey and/or did not come in red. Your standard no frills tea light runs cheap with a usual burn time of 2-3 hours, I think.
I bought five 30 count boxes of red scented tea lights from Pier1 when I stumbled upon them on final clearance at 90% off ($6 became $0.6 - that’s $0.02 per candle). I thought that I’d just deal with the given 2-3 hours. FFIL happens to be a candle expert, and we asked him if he could melt some of them to the brim of the tin container in order to extend their burn time. He came up with a much more genius idea:
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, CanadaAge and Occupation: 25, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing StudentEngagement Date: December 2004Wedding Date: June 21, 2008Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
Like I had mentioned in my previous post, Mr. Flamingo and I wanted some type of chandelier on a stand for our centerpieces, but we didn’t want to make a big hole in our budget. While shopping for the holidays, I suddenly had this “AWWWWWWWW” moment - and I apologize because I never showed you what that AWWW piece was.
Mrs. Jasmine, Chicago/LAAge and Occupation: 25, AttorneyFiance's Age and Occupation: 26, AttorneyEngagement Date: March 24, 2007Wedding Date: June 7, 2008Blogging Since: September 20, 2007Venue: Hotel on the westside of Los AngelesAbout Me: I'm a happy-go-lucky, imaginative spirit trapped in the body of a lawyer. I love reading, shopping, dining out, and exploring my beloved adopted city of Chicago with my fiance. We're planning the wedding of our dreams in my hometown of Los Angeles and we're excited to incorporate our cherished Indian/Pakistani customs and traditions.
I decided to keep the ball rolling on my mom’s wonderful DIY projects. Since I’ve neglected to create anything truly fabulous for the wedding that I can share with all of you, I’m hoping my mom’s contributions will suffice
Today’s project is my mom’s shimmery gold votives. We got the inspiration for this idea from the super talented and creative Mrs. Emerald. She created some truly beautiful votives for her wedding. My mom decided to follow Mrs. Emerald’s example and create votives for my wedding– and we loved the results!
First, we purchased plain glass votives off Ebay for a great price. Then my mom created a paper template using Mrs. Emerald’s great instructions. Read more…
Mrs. Flamingo, Montreal, CanadaAge and Occupation: 25, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Nursing StudentEngagement Date: December 2004Wedding Date: June 21, 2008Venue: Imperia Hotel (modern chic hotel)About Me: I am a passionate designer who loves anything pretty. I heart all paper products (eco-friendly of course). My passion revolves around anything considered glamour; vintage and modern. In my free time, I love reading Martha mags, designing jewelry and making a pit-stop at Starbucks for a chai latte. I'm also a chocoholic at heart and my family drools over my homemade truffles.
I’ve avoided the topic of our centerpieces for quite some time now, because I didn’t know what to do. We absolutely wanted some type of chandelier on a stand, but I had to figure out how. During the holidays while I was doing my Christmas shopping at Winners/Homesense, I suddenly had this “AWWWWWWWW” moment - almost as though a glowing light appeared on what seemed to be the perfect centerpiece.
Now before I spill the beans on our centerpieces, I thought I would just share bits and pieces and let your imagination take over. They aren’t completely finished, but this weekend I will take pictures of the final product. Until then I have tonnes of unsticking labels and washing to do.Here is what makes up the centerpieces:
Mrs. Pineapple, PittsburghAge and Occupation: 24, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Student Affairs AdministrationEngagement Date: August 4, 2007Wedding Date: October, 2008Blogging Since: April 14, 2008Venue: The Rivers ClubAbout Me: Being a transplant from sunny south Florida I am learning to live with all four seasons while playing with our cat collective, line dancing, and doing a ton of DIY projects for our wedding (seriously, like a thousand)!
As I’ve mentioned, Mr. Pineapple and I are not using real flowers for our centerpieces. In addition to the paper flowers we are going to create some sort of candle centerpiece. I love the look of candles so creating candle centerpieces to replace the flower ones doesn’t hurt too much. I made sure to ask about decorating and candle restrictions when we visited venues and fortunately our venue has none. In fact, they supply each table with 4-5 three inch votives.
I have been searching the internet for a few months now for discount pillar candles. There were a few websites I almost purchased from, particularly candlesforless.com. They sell four-packs of pillar candles for $13.99 each. My plan was then to use 3 per table and buy 15 packs for $209.85 + tax + shipping and handling. We are using 6-person rectangular tables rather than the typical 8-10 person round, but it still worried me that 3 candles would be too skimpy.
Then I decided to go to Ikea’s website to find plates or chargers of some sort to put the candles on. Lo and behold they sell 5 packs of pillar candles for $7.99! I could then get 5 candles for each table for only $159.80! Such a better deal. So, I went to Ikea after a so-so trip to pick up my dress…more on that to come. Here is what I left with: Read more…
Mrs. Cherry Blossom, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative Asst.Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, District Sales ManagerEngagement Date: December 23, 2006Wedding Date: May 3, 2008Venue: Zen Garden in the East Bay w/ reception in a floor-to-ceiling window Atrium with views of the Zen GardenAbout Me: After 5 years of dating, we're finally ready to get hitched! I am a lovah of all things wedding, creative, crafty, and definitely DIY bc I love to add a personal touch to everything I gift or make. In my free time, I like to bake, spend time with our family, friends, and my doggies, read my guilty pleasure celebrity gossip and catch up on TV shows.
I am attempting to preserve my bouquet to use the following day for our second reception. A little bit of wishful thinking? Maybe so… if anything, I have a back up one anyway. I have plenty of vases, ribbons, and adorable book cloth (that I bought a long time ago from Daiso) that I threw together for a resting/hydrating place for my bouquet during the reception. I want to love it and protect it as long as I can since I won’t be drying it afterwards.
Mrs. Cupcake, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 27, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Construction Project ManagerEngagement Date: February 10, 2007Wedding Date: September, 2008Blogging Since: December 7, 2007Venue: The Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PAAbout Me: Mr. Cupcake and I hit it off at a Halloween party and immediately began a long-distance relationship. After two years, he moved to my neck of the woods, and a year and a half after that, he proposed at the “place we fell in love.” I am a true perfectionist who enjoys designing and creating more work for myself, so wedding planning is my perfect outlet. Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we hope to weave that aspect of our personalities into our wedding day.
You may recall that I have been on the hunt for cut glass to use as candle holders at our reception. Actually, more specifically, Mr. Cupcake’s mom has graciously been doing most of the hunting — I’ve just been transporting everything to our storage space (a.k.a. Momma Cupcake’s basement) once FMIL Cupcake hands over her magnificent finds during each of our visits to Central PA. She has been doing some serious bargain hunting and has admittedly become a cut glass addict!
This weekend I decided to finally get out all of the pieces she has found during her weekly trips to the Salvation Army (with the exception of a handful that Mr. Cupcake and I found at some random yard sales and flea markets) to figure out what our grand total is. Mr. Cupcake and I headed over to Momma Cupcake’s basement the other day to take the pieces out of their boxes, set them out on the table to survey the collection, and start counting.
Let me tell you. We have a LOT of glass.
The whole shebang laid out on a table in the basement. Mr. Cupcake counted them all…. wanna guess how many?
Mrs. Cupcake, PhiladelphiaAge and Occupation: 27, Graphic DesignerFiance's Age and Occupation: 29, Construction Project ManagerEngagement Date: February 10, 2007Wedding Date: September, 2008Blogging Since: December 7, 2007Venue: The Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PAAbout Me: Mr. Cupcake and I hit it off at a Halloween party and immediately began a long-distance relationship. After two years, he moved to my neck of the woods, and a year and a half after that, he proposed at the “place we fell in love.” I am a true perfectionist who enjoys designing and creating more work for myself, so wedding planning is my perfect outlet. Mr. Cupcake and I are both old souls, and we hope to weave that aspect of our personalities into our wedding day.
Mrs. Cherry Blossom, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative Asst.Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, District Sales ManagerEngagement Date: December 23, 2006Wedding Date: May 3, 2008Venue: Zen Garden in the East Bay w/ reception in a floor-to-ceiling window Atrium with views of the Zen GardenAbout Me: After 5 years of dating, we're finally ready to get hitched! I am a lovah of all things wedding, creative, crafty, and definitely DIY bc I love to add a personal touch to everything I gift or make. In my free time, I like to bake, spend time with our family, friends, and my doggies, read my guilty pleasure celebrity gossip and catch up on TV shows.
Mrs. Bee, New YorkAge and Occupation: 29, Weddingbee PublisherFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, InternetEngagement Date: May 7, 2004Wedding Date: March 5, 2005Venue: Westside Loft, New YorkAbout Me: Yes, my name really is Bee! I love my blogging, wikis, and tabasco sauce!
I love these romantic eyelet candleholders from CB2. Only $1.95 each, they’re currently out of stock but will be available again in January.
Mrs. Kiwi, Los AngelesAge and Occupation in 06: 27, BookkeeperFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LAEngagement Date: March 31, 2006Wedding Date: November 3, 2007Venue: Radisson HotelAbout Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
Mrs. Cherry Blossom, San FranciscoAge and Occupation: 27, Administrative Asst.Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, District Sales ManagerEngagement Date: December 23, 2006Wedding Date: May 3, 2008Venue: Zen Garden in the East Bay w/ reception in a floor-to-ceiling window Atrium with views of the Zen GardenAbout Me: After 5 years of dating, we're finally ready to get hitched! I am a lovah of all things wedding, creative, crafty, and definitely DIY bc I love to add a personal touch to everything I gift or make. In my free time, I like to bake, spend time with our family, friends, and my doggies, read my guilty pleasure celebrity gossip and catch up on TV shows.
I wasn’t planning on posting this until I had completed my project but seeing as it might be helpful to other brides , I plan to share with you all my biggest DIY project for the wedding …. our votive favors and decorations.
I’ve always had a love for things etched and was extremely excited that it was available to DIY. Being able to incorporate it into the wedding was not exactly a challenge since I had pitched this idea to Mr. CB before we were engaged. The challenge was executing it and showing the real sample to him. Mr. CB was very against the idea at first because he did not want me to bleed blood and sweat and spend hours on the millions of DIY projects that I plan to do, but once he saw these, he was on board 500%. My first sample project, decor:
Exhibit A: Our decorative votive candles for the tables and for the cocktail hour area:
Hard to picture it just like that right?
All-Inclusion Invitation Suites
Read more…
The whole shebang laid out on a table in the basement. Mr. Cupcake counted them all…. wanna guess how many?
, I plan to share with you all my biggest DIY project for the wedding …. our votive favors and decorations.
