Candles + Ribbon = Bar decor

Wedding

As I’ve mentioned here before we are having our reception at The Cheesecake Factory . Since we are not having a florist and we are decorating the place ourselves I’ve been looking around for ideas online and I discovered a wedding that was also held there. This is the bar view and I love the idea of candles and pedals so much that I’m going steal it and add a twist to it.

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A couple of months ago my HBoO and I went into Big Lots as they were having a sale. I saw that they had some votive candles that I might be able to use in some aspect of the wedding. I wasn’t sure exactly how they would be used but I bought them regardless of it. I couldn’t pass up a sale and for about $10 I bought 48 candles.

I wanted to add a tad more color to these plain white candles and so I added some ribbon that I’ve used in other wedding DIY things.

I will also be using orange pedals (well at least that’s the plan) on the bar along with these candles.

What do you think of my white candles?

Oh Chucks, how do I love thee..

Shoes, Wedding

Okay like many before me I have joined the wedding shoe bandwagon. I love this beautiful red shoes that peeps from underneath her wedding dress. The only problem is finding the right pair of shoes.

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Oh how perfect it would be to wear my sweet and oh so old trusty Converse on my wedding day. I wear chucks on a daily base and feel that they are so much part of my personality that I should wear some either in the ceremony or the reception. I still haven’t ruled it out completely especially after seeing this beautiful bride rocking some lavender ones.

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If I wanted to go the traditional route I would go with something white like these. As a matter of fact my mom asked me which white shoes I was going with. I just can’t see me wearing white shoes on my wedding date because it’s simply not me.

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If I had the money to splurge (or more like if I wouldn’t feel guilty about it) I would buy the ultimate wedding day shoes. I fell in love with these one day when going on the Neiman Marcus website and I later found out that they the same ones that Carrie wears in the Sex in the City Movie.

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One day while we made a quick stop at Ross I found the shoes I was looking for. I got a great deal for these Calvin Klein shoes which I only paid $30 for. My HBoO (the FI will now be known as my Honey Bunches of Oats) loved them and so did I.

So what kind of shoes are you wearing for your wedding? Do you like mine? Should I still consider buying some Chucks to wear?

DIY maps Pt. 2

Map, Technology, Wedding

I left off last time by showing you some of the clip art I had chosen for our maps. Once I got an idea of what kind of design I was going for things seemed to go right along. I began by putting both our wedding location into Google maps. Once I had an idea of what the map layout would look like I began to decide what part of the map I wanted to concentrate on.

Since I didn’t really know how Illustrator really worked I printed out the map and traced it over with a pen and paper. Once I had it traced I scanned it into my computer. (I later found out that I could have done that with Illustrator by adding a layer to it and then removing it when I was done.) I guess I like to make things complicated so I learned by trial and error.I showed my FI this outline and he was confused but later loved my creativity. This is the part that Illustrator came in handy because I used it to color in stuff and move things around. I added color alright, so much that it seemed like Kermit was splattered all over the map. Once I had the color in place I added our names in the font that matched our invitations. Like I previously mentioned I went color crazy and a day later decided that it was too much.

I decided to scale it back and only add burst of color to it. I went ahead and left our names added some clip art colored it in and viola our DIY maps were done. Nothing super fabulous but simply a glimpse of the distance between the ceremony and the reception. In the back I added actual directions to the reception. The only paper I had on hand was 100% cotton paper which is what I used. The measurements that I ended up printing out was 4×6.

I’m wearing glasses on our wedding date so I went ahead and added some to the bride and since our hair color is black I also changed that.

Our colors are blue and orange so I used both of those colors as splashes of hues to make things stand out.

This is my DIY map with fwy signs and everything. Just a simple example of what can be created with Illustrator’s free trial version. I’ve used the couple in more DIY things I will share with you at another time.

What do you think? Do you get that the bells are the ceremony (in case the kissing couple didn’t give it away) and the wine glasses are the reception? Are you doing your own maps?

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?

I am competely a berry kind of girl…

Bridal Shower, Sweets, Wedding

Aran Goyoaga from one of my favorite blogs Cannelle Vanille was featured in Project Wedding and I wanted to share with you these goodies that can be used as part of your bridal shower or wedding. These amazing desserts consist of Raspberries N’ Cream Macarons; Raspberry Meringue Kisses; and Raspberry and Yogurt Mousse Cakes.

{Photo Copyright by Aran Goyoaga}

To check out the recipes go here.

Let me know if you try the recipe and how it comes out. Are you baking for your bridal shower or wedding?

With sweets you can always say it better…

Sweets, Wedding

This 4th of July I would like to say:

{Bakerella}

How cute are these lollipops? Bakerella received an e-mail from a marine who wanted to do something magical for his girlfriend who is in boot camp and in celebration of 4th of July. The story is really cute and I suggest you check it out here.

This 4th of July I would like to thank all the members of the 1498th TC (HET) who are scheduled to come back on the 19th of this month. I can’t wait for my cousin to be home after a year of being on tour in Iraq.

Is there anyone who comes to mind this 4th of July?

If you love something let it go…so I did.

invitations, Wedding

I finally sent out our invites this week. It was actually quite an adventure because I was determined to have our invites Hand Canceled. My FI actually took me to three different post offices without any success. At the third one I was told simply to put them in a bin and to write a note. I have no idea if they are actually going to do it but I’m keeping my fingers crossed. After all the hard work I put into them I hope they reach their destination in one peace and pretty.

This is an example of what hand canceling looks like.

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I spent so much time on the address calligraphy that all I wanted was for them to remain as pretty.

Are you going to ask for you invites to be hand canceled? Where you successful?

Becoming a Tech Savy Bride…

Organization, Technology, Wedding

As soon as the wedding planning began I knew I wanted to have a wedding website but I was stunned at all the different ones available out there. Since I’m pretty frugal I decided to set up a free one. My FI wants one that is not too expensive and where we can get our names as our domain but he hasn’t had time to set it up and since I like to get things done I went ahead and set ours up. These are a some of the ones I found in my search:

The one I decided to go with is Weddingwire and I love it!

Okay so let me admit if I haven’t previously done so my FI is a software engineer so he could easily set up a site write the code and make it fabulous but since work is keeping him so busy lately I had to do it myself. I love our wedding website because it keeps be very organized. Just to let you guys know he is actually very impressed with the tools that you are able to use. Since I got the thumps up from my FI it made me very happy.

Are you using a wedding website? If so which one?

"The camera can photograph thought."

Photographers, Wedding

One of the first things we did this year was book our photographer, Mike Stonis. He is part of Studio 7 Photography alongside with Miah Klein. They do such an amazing job that I wanted to share with you guys some of their work. You need to check them out because this duo has such an eye for capturing emotion.

{All photos Studio 7 Photography}

We seriously looked at over 100 photographers websites and meet with a few of them. Our obsession with photographers led us to discover Mike and Miah. Mike had such an amazing energy to him that we left elated after our meeting with him. We are completely excited and can’t wait to reschedule our e-pics for next month.

So, did you pick the first photographer you found or did you become obsessed like we did?

Garment District + TLC = My Boutonnieres

Boutonnieres, Garment District, Wedding

Here they are my long over due boutonnieres. Like I previously mentioned I went to the Garment District in L.A. to buy the supplies needed to make my boutonnieres. Here is the break down of how much I spent.

I only bought one of these flowers because I wanted to make sure this is what I wanted. You can get a dozen for $5.00 or one for 50 cents. The flower comes closed up but it looks great when you open it up.

See the difference after you open up the pedals. Yay for spending 50 cents.

I also used these blue flowers which cost 75 cents a bunch and will make 5 boutonnieres.

I also purchased green petals for 75 cents a bunch which should be enough to make about 5 boutonnieres.

Then I moved onto ribbon which cost me $1.00 and will be used in more wedding related items.

Another type of flower I used was these little orange ones. These cost 50 cents a bunch which should also be enough to make 5 boutonnieres.

I used floral tape to bind everything together and a glue gun to add the ribbon. Here is final product. I hope you like it. Please let me know if I should change anything.

Viola! Total cost for 5 boutonnieres should be:

Blue Flower: $2.50
Small blue Flowers: 75 cents
Orange Flower: 50 cents
Ribbon: $1.00
Floral tape:$ 1.50

Grand total: $6.25 and I will have extra ribbon and tape left over.
Per boutonnieres: $1.25

So, what do you think?