Headbands and Pillow!

Today I made all three flower girl headbands using a plastic headband, purple & silver sparkly ribbon, and three silk flowers. I got better and faster with each one and I think I might start making items like this and try selling them on Etsy.com since I've seen a lot on the site that look just as good as mine and they sell. The ring bear pillow I used the leftover large petals from my hair flowers and two rose petals as well as a pale purple checkered ribbon, silver wired ribbon, and a green satin ribbon. To make all four items it took me about an hour. I'm really happy with how they turned out and I hope the kids like them.

The Inspiration

This is a DIY wedding!

Today I placed my orders for most of the items I will need to make our centerpieces, my veil, ribbon candles, and other decorations. I was able to find online coupons for all but one site. The only thing left to order is the fresh real flowers (2 wks before the wedding) and more ribbon. The websites I ordered from are:

www.afloral.com www.candles4less.com www.bloomsandbranches.com

and www.save-on-crafts.com

Here are a few pictures of the silk flowers I received he next day from Afloral.com and I am only returning three items. Talk about a fast turn around!

Another beautiful day at the Cloisters!

Photos are courtesy of Ricky Chung Photography.

www.rickychungphotography.com

Today, the weather was gorgeous! It's mid March and it was 75 degrees sunny... PERFECT!!! Every time Drew and I have gone out to the Cloisters no matter what time of year it is it's always so nice out so, I really hope we have good weather on our wedding day. We picked up Andrea and my Mom and drove out to the Castle. We were running 20 minutes late and when we pulled up my Dad, Jase, Emily, Wendy & Jeremy (DJs), and Ricky & Erica (Photographers) were waiting on the steps for us. After we did are "hello's" and "hugs" Drew and I walked around the back of the castle to take some photos by the windmill. We felt really comfortable with the photographers and they are using these photos for the cards. Ricky said he would email them to me in a few days so I can use them as well. Everyone loved the food that Daniel made and were very excited when I told them he was our caterer. I finally was able to talk to "Annie" the coordinator of the Cloisters and we went over the layout with the tables and gave the DJ's some good ideas. I was also able to nail down our rehearsal date which oddly enough we were able to have the 14th! It was really an exciting feeling today with a group of our friends and family. I'm really looking forward to our wedding day!

Drews Wedding Day Present

Today, on Drew's favorite day of the year (St. Patrick's Day) I was able to buy him his dream watch! My Mom and I were at the Mall and we stopped into "Littman Jewelers" the store Drew and I always stop into, to look at their watches. Oddly enough it's always the same girl that helps us. I always wanted to buy Drew this watch for him for our

wedding since it's got a lot of BLING it's more for special occasions than everyday. He bought himself an everyday Tag Heuer last year as a present to himself for starting an AMAZING business so he needs a special occasion one now! The watch I bought him is the NEW TAG

HEUER AQUARACER CHRONOGRAPH DAY DATE MENS WATCH and a few details are: it has 47 Full Cut Diamonds (0.94 carat), it has a Scratch Resistant Sapphire Crystal face, it can dive 300 Meters / 1000 Feet Water Resistant, and it has Chronograph Features. This watch has serious weight to it as well!

The first birthday present I bought him was a watch... a much cheaper watch but, a nice watch. Drew told me the story about his Grandfathers watch and how he's treasures it so much and that he is a big watch guy so, it's the perfect gift I can give him.

I'm going to keep this a secret until our wedding day which is now 58 days away and it's going to be so hard for me to do and probably explains why I can't sleep tonight and why I am typing this at 3 am! I'm just so EXCITED!!!!! It's going to be the best present I'll ever give Drew besides our children. The best part is it was the last watch in their stores left. She said it gets shipped from store to store every time someone asks about it and a lot of people have been interested since it's now discontinued. So I got it 30% off! I had the "Luck of the Irish" with me today!

"Oh, I am so excited to give him this watch! You have no idea how bad I want to give it to him now! Drew's been a little down with stress from the family business and I know this would cheer him right up, but I'm going to wait."

I wont show this post till after the wedding since I know he sometimes reads it and I want to keep it a surprise from everyone besides my Mom obviously.

I love you Drew and I can't wait to be your wife!!!!

Programs

I made our programs over the past couple of days and I'm really happy with how they turned out! I got the idea form someones post on www.weddingbee.com and made it my own. It was tricky working with the eyelets since this was my first time using them. You always have to go through a few rough drafts before you get the perfect one! Luckily, I only went through a few. I bought all my crafts items form "Michael's", "Jo-Anna's Fabric", and "Office Depot".

List of Items

12 x 12 Purple Shimmer Paper

8.5 x 11.5 Silver Shimmer Paper

8.5 x 11.5 Ivory Card stock Paper

1/4 Silver Eyelets

Eyelet Setter

Skinny Wired Silver Ribbon

Round Corner Puncher

Scissors

Double-Sided Tape

I made my templates in a Word document and printed everything at the BEST quality.

Flowers, Flowers, and more Flowers!

Today my Aunt Mel came over to discuss the possibility of making all of my flowers. We went over all my ideas and I showed her all the items I found and the prices. She is going to check my flower prices with the people she has worked with in the past to see who has the best price. She doesn't do this for a living but, it is something she took classes for a long time ago and has done friends weddings. It will save us thousands of dollars if she helps us! She said she feels pretty comfortable making what I like and she talked to a friend that is going to help her.

Thanks Mel it really means a lot!

A day of wedding to do's

Yesterday, was a busy afternoon. The weather was horrible with pouring down rain and bursts of strong wind! I picked up and Andrea, than my sister and her three daughters. We made it to the fitting appointment just on time at 11 am. My Mom and friend Leah met us there a few minutes later but, unfortunately they missed me in my dress. I only needed to get mine hemmed and everyone else for the most part had to get them taken in some. The seamstress is going to hold all the scrape pieces for me. I want to try and make a tutu or a dress out of the leftovers for our daughter if, we have one. I think it would be cute to wear on her first birthday and than she can pass it along to her daughter and so forth and so forth.

Once we were done with our fitting we drove down to Old Ellicott City and had coffee and lunch at "Bean Hallow". That coffee shop isn't the biggest place so it took some maneuvering of chairs and tables to fit us all. It was really nice hanging out with all the girls and having girl talk. Most of us ordered chicken salad or egg salad sandwiches and chai teas. Once we were done we walked up the hill to the jewelry store so I could find out about our rings and when we need to order them. It was such a crappy day to do at that walking around in the rain but, a least it

wasn't snowing. We walked up the hill to the bakery for the cake tasting appointment and we had to wait since another appointment was going on. The bakery actually

had me down for Sunday and I told the guy I just called when we were eating lunch to see if we could move the appointment up. Since there was so much confusion the owner "Chris" came in and help us. We all got free drinks and he took of the delivery fee if we go through them. The cake wasn't the best that we've had but, the prices were good and I know Angie wanted to try and make our cake but, after pricing everything out it makes sense to take the stress off of her and order the cake so that's what we did and I gave them our deposit a few days later. Angie is still going to make our Owl cake topper.

Flower Girl Baskets

Yesterday and today my Mom and I ran out to "Micheal's" and priced out items that we would need to make the centerpieces and bought a few items for the wedding. I had a really good time with my Mom and I'm glad that she is finally really into all the wedding planing. She throw out a few ideas that her and Dad want to do for the Bridal shower. Yesterday we went to "Victoria Secret" and I didn't like anything I tried on! I need to find what I'm going to wear under my dress! I was glad Mom was with me because it would have been really depressing if I was by myself. I also bought a few gifts for the girls in the wedding! Today we bought the items for me to make the flower girl baskets and I LOVE how they turned out. I think each basket cost about $5.00 to make since, I buy everything on sale or I use coupons!

How to Make a Flower Girl Basket

What you need is a hot glue gun, scissors, lots of ribbon, a basket, a few flowers, and roses petals. It took me maybe an hour to make all three baskets.

Reality Check

I have realized a few weeks ago that this wedding got way over budget. We have been counting on a business deal that was suppose be finalized in January and than February to pay for our wedding and to leave us with a nice cushion but, things changed when Drew went to Vegas a few weeks ago. Our new partner is still coming on but, not paying to get into the business like he was before... great just great! So, now I'm taking on even more DIY projects! I looked into what it would cost to make our centerpieces and it should cost about $500-$600 (not including flowers) compared to $1,400! I made the Invitations and everyone should be receiving them soon if they haven't already. I've made the Menus, Programs, and Seating Chart I just have to print them and assemble them. I'm also going to make the name cards, my hair piece, the flower girl baskets, and the ring bears pillow. This wedding is honestly getting done in two months! OMG there is only 68 days to go!!!!!

I really hope we can pull this off!

They are in the Mail!!!

So, it's official our wedding invitations have been hand delivered to the Post Office! Now, I stood in a long line to hand the invitations over to the postal worker like all the website and blogs tell you to do and after the lady checked the postage she told me to go drop them in the box myself. I couldn't believe it! I already new my postage was right so because of her laziness I waisted 30 minutes of my life standing in a line I didn't need too. At least they our out now and I can breath a little better now and move on to the next DIY project.

Wedding Purse

3/10/10

I'm so sad... I just checked out the website for the silver clutch and it is SOLD OUT!!!

I love, love, love these chiffon rosette clutches!

The gold one is called "Dominique" and costs $125!

The silver one is called "Burst of Roses" and is only $65! Plus the silver goes perfect with the theme of the wedding! I really want this... it's perfect!

Today's Project

Today I took a decorative letter "T" that we had hanging in our last apartment and I covered it in moss. I added a small green rose on the bottom corner. This project took a lot longer than I thought it was going too! After doing the "T" I decided I'll keep the "A" silver. I'm going to use them on one of the fireplace mantels.

The only supplies needed for this project is: Moss, scissors, and a hot glue gun.