Take Out + Candy = Our Boxes

Candy Buffet, DIY, Wedding

When you think of favors or recuerdos in a Mexican wedding you think of something plastic with lace. My mom and aunt kept asking me what type of favors I was going to have and since I don’t want to ruin the surprise of the candy buffet I insisted on simply stating candy. I don’t have anything against recuerdos but I rather have something that my guest can eat instead of just throw away.

Here is an example of a recuerdo:

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Like I’ve previously mentioned here we are having a candy buffet. When trying to figure out where our guest were going to put the candy in I began to look around at different ideas.

One option was bags:

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Another one was jars:

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And the last one was take out boxes:

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The one I completely fell in love with was the third option. I found that Paper Mart has the cheapest take out boxes. I ended up spending less than $20 for 100 boxes including s&h. If you live near L.A. you can pick them up from there warehouse and can save on the shipping.

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Here is how our boxes arrived:

Here is where we thank our guest for sharing with us:

Here is our names and wedding date:

Here they are all together:

Many hours and miles of ribbon later we finally finished our boxes for our candy buffet. I am really happy on how they turned out especially since my HBoO and I burned ourselves on the glue gun on more than one occasion.

Total cost of this project approximately was about $25 for 100 boxes all completed.

What do you think of our boxes? What kind of favors are you going to have at your reception?

Illustrator + Patience = DIY Maps Pt.1

DIY, Map, Technology, Wedding

Now that the invites were sent off and I have more time on my hands and I can tell you about my adventures with Illustrator. After going to a wedding in the beginning of June I realized how useful the Map/Direction insert included in the invitation is. Val, my MOH, drove us to the wedding and although she had a navigation system in her car we relied on the map to get us there. It was clear that I wanted a map with my invitations as well. I knew I could came up with something spectacular (okay maybe not that professional but you get the point) in the likes of one of my favorite calligraphers Laura Hooper or perhaps one like Crystal Kluge. I’m not trying to show off or anything but I do posses some ability with a calligraphy pen and after taking countless art classes I to can dabble with that as well or at least that’s how the conversation went in my head. After thinking about the priorities for the wedding it seemed that my attention was required elsewhere. I decided to do a “quick” DIY map using illustrator but the problem was first trying to figure out how to use the program itself.

Here are two examples of what I was first thinking about and decided not to do:

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Once I decided to play with the actual layout of the design I began to look up some clip art that I would be able to incorporate into it.

Here are a couple of the ones I chose:

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Finding cute designs was more difficult than putting together the whole map. I thought I was going to save time by using clip art instead of actually drawing things myself. I will continue my adventure with Illustrator on a different day.

What do you think of my clip art so far? Are you including a map in your invitations?

Can I get ketchup with that dog?

DIY, Wedding

Wedding Mode Day 1:

If you are from Southern Cali and you are on a budget you have to go visit the Fashion District or what is more commonly known as the Garment District. I spent my day today in Downtown L.A. on the search for some DIY ideas and for great finds.

I totally scored and I will share my finds with you within the next few days. My recommendation to you if you decide to go is to take public transportation. Not only is it cheaper and great for the environment but you don’t have to deal with traffic and parking. One of my favorite stores to go visit while I’m there is Maple Craft 925 Maple Ave # 1st Los Angeles, CA 90015 (213) 622-9602‎. This store has an array of stuff for DIY. You can find artificial flowers, ribbon, stuff to make favors, etc.

Another great store is Craft Beads. Both stores pretty much have the same things except that they sometime have different prices. Yay! This is handy when you are trying to score a deal.

The one thing you have to do while you are visiting the Garment District is to grab yourself a nice hot dog. A hot dog from an outdoor cart is such the L.A. thing to do while you are there. For $3.00 you can have yourself a treat that you normally wouldn’t.

The reason I suggest the hot dog is because once you go there and start looking for deals you’ll forget to eat.

Where have you recently scored great deals at for your DIY projects?

But teacher I have a wedding to finish planning…

DIY, Recycle, Ring Pillow, Wedding

I wish I could just tell my professors that I can’t take my finals because I have to continue the planning but since I can’t today will be a fun filled day. I will be at school all day doing a final, reviewing, and studying. Life doesn’t hold still when you’re planning a wedding and since I have other obligations you won’t hear as much from me in the next few days. Once the madness is over I can move on to all the DIY projects I’ve been telling you about. Before I go away for a the next few days I will leave you with what I like to call my ring pillow. One of my bridesmaids was kind enough to give it to me since she didn’t have a need for it in hers. I appreciate and welcome all items I can “recycle” into my wedding. I tweaked the pillow a tad and made it more personal. I’m trying to decide if this is what I want of if I should change it but as of right now this is our ring pillow.

Before:

After:

I hope to see everyone in a few days until then have a lovely week and wish me luck on my finals.