Miss Camel, Athens, GAAge and Occupation: 29, high school teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, high school teacherEngagement Date: March 2012Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Cloverleaf FarmAbout Me: I'm a high school social studies teacher who started her career teaching English in Japan with the JET Program. I love photography and history. I also like to travel and take naps---two things that you would think contradict each other, but somehow they don't. My heroes are Dwight Schrute, Liz Lemon, the Dude, and T.E. Lawrence. I traveled the world throughout my 20s only to fall in love with the social studies teacher in the classroom next door to mine. He just happened to be the kindest, most compassionate, and selfless person I had ever met and each day I'm so thankful to have him in my life. We are planning a whimsical, relaxed countryside wedding with a little Marie Antoinette flair thrown in for good measure. Please join us on our wedding planning adventures!
Recently I completely finished gathering everything we will need for our guestbook. This was another great thing to cross off the list before we get too close to the wedding. There are so many unique and fun options for guestbooks these days; not many people still opt for the traditional book of signatures anymore. Something I’ve always wanted to do was the the photo guestbook. I love photography and I have scrapbooks and photo albums jam-packed with photographs. I was sort of the record-keeper as a kid—I took and kept most of the photos and films of my friends as we were growing up. Therefore, the photo guestbook seemed like a natural choice for us—plus something Mr. C and I will enjoying flipping through for years to come!
Mr. C gave me a Fujifilm Instax MINI instant film camera for Christmas a few years ago. Granted, I don’t use it very often (the film is rather expensive), but as soon as we got engaged I knew that it would come in handy! The idea is to have each couple or group of guests photographed. The instantly developed film will then be added to our guestbook with a personal message. We plan to have an attendant stationed at the table for a while in order to assist guests in taking photos. There is also a cool little fisheye mirror at the front of the camera, which will allow guests to take selfie photos as well, in case the attendant has left for the evening.
Miss Scooter, IndianapolisAge and Occupation: 27, IT Project ManagerFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Operations ManagerEngagement Date: July 27, 2012Wedding Date: September 2013Venue: Indianapolis ArtsgardenAbout Me: I am a fun-loving list-obsessed gal who enjoys watching the Food Network on Saturday mornings and then butchering the recipes in real life. I have fun blogging, chatting with my friends, and trying new crafts. My fiancé enjoys gentlemanly pursuits (a fancy way of saying whiskey and golf) but also likes his quiet personal time. We met at Purdue University and are planning a fun-filled wedding with many personal touches. We are so excited to share this journey with you.
Despite the feeling of being swamped over the last few weeks, I actually got a lot done! I want to introduce to you my first wedding DIY project…”WILL YOU BE MY MAID” invites. Speaking from experience, it is HARD WORK to be a bridesmaid. And often you are overlooked and underappreciated. I didn’t want to start my wedding-planning process with my bridesmaids not feeling as special as they truly are. I know I may be biased, but I think I will have the best women in the world standing by my side on my wedding day.
This was truly a labor of love and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even better than making it was the reaction that I received from my bridesmaids! I am so excited to share with you. They were not all that difficult to make. Here is what you will need:
Heavy card stock
Martha Stewart Design Punch Around
Martha Stewart Scoring Board
Martha Stewart Design press** (optional)
Individual letter stamps **( optional)
I decided to go with a more elegant look for the invites with the flair of my personality in the text. I made a layered look that I thought would mirror an actual wedding invite. I used Microsoft Publisher to create the files. If you want them, please let me know and I can send them to you. I made the following sections:
Mrs. Toadstool, Obregon, MexicoAge and Occupation: 23, Research AssistantFiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Sales ManagerEngagement Date: October 1, 2011Wedding Date: December 2012Venue: Hacienda los AgavesAbout Me: I’m a born and bred Mexican girl with a severe coffee addiction, an obsession for books and an aversion for exercise. I like to plan things, so this wedding’s my dream project---I just need to remind myself from time to time that I’m the bride and not just the planner. I recently realized brown’s my favorite color as I was trying to incorporate it in every aspect of our wedding and I'm dreaming of an autumn vibe since we don’t have that around here. I’m marrying my best friend and partner in crime on the day of our nine-year anniversary! He’s an awesome, smart, fun guy who is patient, and crazy enough to spend the rest of his life with me. We’re planning our not-so-dreamy dream wedding in December in a non-traditional way and making it our own.
I can’t remember when, or where (where on the internetz, of course) I saw a cute wedding pic with the couple kissing and holding in front of them the Xbox “Achievement unlocked” sign, and right then and there I knew we should have one at our wedding. You see, my husband and his friends are big Xbox enthusiasts (BIG), and I knew this would be a hit.
Miss Camel, Athens, GAAge and Occupation: 29, high school teacherFiance's Age and Occupation: 35, high school teacherEngagement Date: March 2012Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Cloverleaf FarmAbout Me: I'm a high school social studies teacher who started her career teaching English in Japan with the JET Program. I love photography and history. I also like to travel and take naps---two things that you would think contradict each other, but somehow they don't. My heroes are Dwight Schrute, Liz Lemon, the Dude, and T.E. Lawrence. I traveled the world throughout my 20s only to fall in love with the social studies teacher in the classroom next door to mine. He just happened to be the kindest, most compassionate, and selfless person I had ever met and each day I'm so thankful to have him in my life. We are planning a whimsical, relaxed countryside wedding with a little Marie Antoinette flair thrown in for good measure. Please join us on our wedding planning adventures!
I love the soft, romantic color palette and I thought the concept would work well in our Marie Antoinette inspired wedding. I dashed off to the craft store and returned with the supplies I needed to complete this project. I bought the letters, the scrapbook paper, and the spray adhesive at Michaels. I love their teacher discount! I bought the self-healing mat on Amazon.com. Click HERE for a link to the same product that I purchased. This project is super easy and would be great for a DIY beginner!
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
After making a million flowers, I needed to take those flowers and make them into useful things like boutonnieres, bouquets, centerpieces, etc., etc.
Though I had seen a lot of gorgeous boutonnieres, I knew I really liked the simple flower-based ones. I didn’t want to make them too complicated because, frankly, that would involve buying lots of little scraps that I wouldn’t know what else to DIY with.
Miss Blue Whale, College Park, MDAge and Occupation: 27, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 33, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: March 10, 2012Wedding Date: May 2013Venue: Southern Tree Plantation in Blairsville, GAAbout Me: I love bright colors, glitter, sugar, cheese, tiny animals, talking in silly accents, dancing, and all things music. I love to plan things, but when it comes time to execute the plans, I tend to panic. My friends tell me that I remind them of a mix between a cartoon character and a Disney Princess. Mr. Blue Whale and I are Southerners at heart, but we’ve been transplanted to the East Coast for school. We both love barbecues, star-gazing, bonfires, music, making up nonsense words, and generally being silly. Our wedding will be a fun-filled destination wedding in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It will most certainly feature bright colors, '80s music, and glitter.
Our Save the Dates are done!! I am beyond thrilled with how they turned out.
They are so totally us. Mr. Whale plays the guitar, and I play the piano. I also love to wear bright colored tights, leg-warmers, and bright shoes (lucky for me, my dude grew up in the 80′s, so he thinks these things are totally hot. I know, I snagged a pretty awesome guy.).
The best thing about our Save the Dates is that they look awesome! The second best thing? We made them ourselves!! My mind was blown when I heard that some people spend hundreds of dollars on these things. You totally don’t have to! And now that they’re done, I’ve definitely got some tips.
Tip Number One: Either have a professional photographer or talk a very patient friend into helping you. I have to give a BIG thanks to my mom for being our awesome and incredibly patient photographer. We probably took about 150 photos until we could get this one. Crazy, right?? What did the ones we didn’t choose look like?
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
In the last post, I made 3D block numbers to use as table numbers. Though they were awesome and free (!), they weren’t exactly presentable with the large quantity of Scotch tape holding them together, and they were also incredibly flimsy. Thus, I needed to papier mache and decorate the numbers.
As a reminder, how the numbers looked after the end of the last post:
1.) First, to make them more sturdy, I papier mached the numbers with newspaper to give them strength. I made a papier mache paste by using the recipe:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup of Elmer’s glue
The salt is there to prevent the papier mache from molding, while the Elmer’s glue gives it a bit more strength. The overall batter ends up being very similar to pancake batter and will last in the fridge for a couple of days. You just have to stir it back together before using.
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
I originally wanted to do tables relating to our degrees, but I could never come up with enough unique ideas for our number of tables. I’m really just not creative enough for wordplay (as you could probably tell by my awful titles).
Thus, I decided to just use numbers instead. It’s traditional. People won’t get lost. We are really more numbers people anyway. And as a minor subtle nod to the nerdy, we are starting our table count at zero.
I really thought that we would just do picture frames like what a lot of people have done with their tables. However, I really wanted a numbering system that people could see from multiple sides of the table as well as from far away.
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
But I thought something was missing. I wanted something that I could play around with, while being easy and cheap to make. Enter shoe clips. Whoever came up with this idea is a total genius. Now you can change up your shoes very easily.
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
I have to admit that I’m definitely going to be a two-shoe bride. Yes, the girl who can’t find one pair of shoes she likes wants to have two pairs of shoes for the big day.
I’d like a pair of blue heels to wear for the ceremony and for the pictures. But, we’re going to be at our reception for hours, and I’m just not sure I can handle wearing heels for that long. I have been known to kick off my shoes and just go around barefoot in some situations. Because we’re going to be inside for 90% of the day, I think it would just make more sense to have a pair of flats to change into.
I will also admit, I’d like another pair, mainly because I fell in love with a pair of shoes.
OK, I don’t think it was this exact shoe, but it’s pretty darn close. The rose gold sequins are absolutely to die for. I love the softness of it all and the sparkliness of it; it just completely caught my eye one day while shopping for the elusive blue heels.
Mrs. Potion, Herndon, VAAge and Occupation: 23, ITFiance's Age and Occupation: 24, SalesEngagement Date: November 26, 2011Wedding Date: November 2012Venue: St. John’s Catholic Church / SpringHouse, Alexander City, ALAbout Me: We are two complete and total geeks that met at engineering camp, of all places, and after several years of being in love long-distance, we’re finally at the beginning of a lifetime together. We’re working with a modest budget to plan a long-distance wedding full of handmade details, Harry Potter references, and, most importantly, lots of love. I could spend an entire afternoon watching Food Network while shopping for shoes online, while he’d prefer to pwn some n00bs on Halo while blasting Deadmau5 on his stereo. I taught him how to swing dance and he taught me to appreciate Tolkien; he introduced me to LOST and I introduced him to the BBC’s Sherlock. I’m a Gryffindor, he’s a Ravenclaw, and we can spend hours discussing and debating the finer points of Rowling’s masterpiece. We’re so excited to be setting out on this adventure and I can’t wait to share all the details with you!
The last time you saw our boutonnieres, they looked like this:
{personal photo}
I know you’ve been DYING to see these things finished, so I’m finally happy to be able to oblige.
I wanted to attach the LEGO minifigs to the center of these flowers, but I didn’t want it to be permanent—once The Big Day is over, you should be able to take the little dudes off and play with them! So rather than reaching for the hot glue gun, I decided to use something I have spools and spools of around here, leftover from another project: floral wire! It’s thin, light, and malleable, so it’ll do a good job holding these guys in place without looking bulky, and when everybody goes home they can simply snip the wire and remove their LEGO.
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
I really love the whimsical-ness of the cards, and I really want to incorporate this design throughout the rest of the paper products that we’ll be having on the big day.
Mrs. Coach, DallasAge and Occupation: 21, Undergraduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Retail Sales/ManagementEngagement Date: October 14, 2011Wedding Date: October 2012Venue: Piazza in the VillageAbout Me: I was born and raised in the piney woods of East Texas, but Dallas has recently stolen my heart (along with Mr. Coach, of course!) I love classic rock, suspense novels, and my sweet Mini Aussie puppy, Memphis. My fiancé and I are planning a traditional wedding filled with romance, and we can’t wait to combine our own personal touches with a timeless affair. We’re young in years, but are also old souls that love good food and great music, and enjoy many things that are well before our time. We’re planning this wedding together, learning lots, and relying on good wine and reruns of Seinfeld to keep us sane along the way!
So, I may have let this project sit on the back burner for a little too long (I first mentioned it over two months ago…oops.) Since it’s been a while, I’ll do a little recap.
I was inspired by photos like these, and I really wanted to find the perfect frame to make my own escort card board for our reception:
Miss Panda, Boston, MAAge and Occupation: 26, Graduate StudentFiance's Age and Occupation: 23, Graduate StudentEngagement Date: June 27, 2011Wedding Date: June 2013About Me: I love window shopping, cute animals, crafting, baking, and most forms of procrastination. I tend to be overly meticulous with choices to a point of complete and total indecision. Mr. PBear and I met and live in the amazing city of Boston. We are big nerds who love trying new foods, playing video games, and cuddling with our adorable hamster. After 5 years together, we are planning an intimate, DIY-heavy, vintage garden themed, nonreligious wedding in the city where we fell in love.
When my MOH first saw this craft, she really didn’t understand why it was necessary to have a cage for cards since they, as inanimate objects, shouldn’t wander off. However, I have been to weddings where they didn’t have a location for cards, and I felt really awkward trying to get the card to the correct person. While I am a little afraid that people might just walk off with the cards if we put them on a table, I think it’s easier to have a spot for people to put them than to not.
I love the idea of having birdcages. I think it’s a great addition that draws in from our garden-type inspirations.
Thus, one of my first impulsive Craigslist purchases ever was for a birdcage for cards. I originally wanted birdcages for the centerpieces, but honestly at $20 to $30 a pop, before the flowers and other parts, I couldn’t really justify the cost of it, especially when I had budgeted $10–$20 per centerpiece.
Mrs. Buffalo, San Diego, CAAge and Occupation: 26, Treasury Services RepresentativeFiance's Age and Occupation: 27, Manufacturing EngineerEngagement Date: July 28, 2011Wedding Date: September 2012Venue: Bailey's Palomar ResortAbout Me: I’m a So Cal girl who doesn’t like the ocean (or sand) and would much rather be out in the country. I’m a Gleek and a Twi-hard, I enjoy baking, reading, watching old movies, and listening to country music. We both love football season, and thankfully our two favorite teams are in different conferences (and therefore rarely play each other). He’s a die-hard Indianapolis Colts fan, and I love the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (and YES, we’re both born and raised San Diegans). He’s my best friend, and I can’t wait to begin the journey of our lifetime together.
I previously mentioned that we would be doing a garter & bouquet toss. When it came to tossing my bouquet it was simple: request the florist to make a smaller toss bouquet version of my actual bouquet. For the garter, though? That’s a little bit of a tougher decision, mainly because there are SO MANY OPTIONS. Like, it’s borderline ridiculous how many there are to choose from:
