4: It's all ready to go!

4 days to go!

EDITED TO ADD:
The weather is sooo unpredictable!
Today the chance of rain for Saturday
has once again been reduced to 10% ...
who knows what the forecast will say tomorrow!

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Last weekend I got everything organized and boxed up and ready to get delivered to our venue on Friday. We will be taking all our photos before our ceremony & a family friend will be doing our decorating and setting up --- with only one hour to get it all done! So, these boxes contain very detailed instructions of where everything goes and how everything is to be set up (I know, you're so surprised to see how organized I am).

I also wrapped up all the bridal party & parents gifts over the weekend and wrote all their thank you cards. I am very excited to give out the gifts at the rehearsal!

The many boxes of wedding decorations & supplies

The wrapped bridal party gifts

I wish I could tell you all about whats in those giant Aaron Brothers bags ... those are our parents gifts which we spent weeks deciding about before we found the perfect gifts! I'll have to blog about those after the wedding!

18: The Guest Book

18 days to go!

I am a huge picture person. I take photos of everything. I always carry my camera with me. We have photo frames all over our house. So, when it came to make a decision about what kind of guest book we would have --- the answer was simple A CUSTOM PHOTO BOOK that our guests can write in "yearbook" style.

We used some of our engagement photos that my cousin/maid of honor took of us shortly after we were engaged. We used our monograms. We included our vows and the readings from our ceremony. And we filled in with photos from our relationship.

The book turned out sooooo great! I want to share a few photos with you!

The front of the book with a line from our invitations, our married monogram, our names and our wedding date

The spine of the book

The back of the book with our math monogram and a math quote that I discovered on a fellow bloggers Stefanie's blog .

Front inside flap with the date again, our wedding date, one of our engagement photos, and a excerpt from our vows

Black flap with more vows, another engagement photo, and the location of our wedding

AND HERE ARE SOME OF MY FAVORITE PAGES

A monogram and our favorite engagement photo

Playing in the snow on our first anniversary and our first photo together at my college graduation party

Just some favorite photos ... I miss my short hair!!!

Engagement photos (again) and our math monogram (again)

New Years Eve 2009 and a photo in our new home the day we closed escrow!!!

Here is the last page ... with another one of our monograms!
And on that blank white page we are going to tape a photo of our kitty cats :)

I'm looking forward to cherishing the loving words our family and friend will write in our guest book for many many years to come!

19: The completed memory poem & candle

19 days to go!

A couple of weeks ago I wrapped our hurricane vase with black & white ribbon and just last week we purchased the frame to put the memory poem in with the names of our loved ones who will be celebrating our wedding day in spirit.

This project is very dear to my heart. Between the two of us, Jon & I have only one living grandparent. My grandma, Gladys, will be traveling from Wyoming to celebrate our wedding day with us (I'm her first grandchild to get married) but the rest of our grandparents will be celebrating with us in spirit. There are also some very dearly loved & missed aunts and uncles listed on our poem. We miss them all dearly and decided this was a perfect way to keep their memories alive on our wedding day.

The vase will have black sand, just like the centerpieces, and a white pillar candle

The memory poem and our loved ones listed below it

20: How sweet it is

20 days to go!

We've got quite a little theme growing using "how sweet it is ..." beginning with our cake cutting song, "How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You" by the Jerry Garcia Band and ending with our favors and the giant martini glass filled with candy on the bar top!

We kinda have a little obsession with Hershey Kisses. They may very well be our absolute favorite go-to candy. So, when we were deciding what to "give" our guests as favors ... it was pretty easy to decide what type of candy to go with!

Putting the favors together was definitley labor intensive. We had to remove the favor tags from their cardboard backing then punch holes in them. The ribbon had to be cut. Then it was a two person job to tie the ribbon around the tulle. We started these on a Saturday night and ended up only finishing 25 ... but then we sat down on a Wednesday and finished them up while we watched American Idol!

They look good enough to eat :)

All 150 completed!
(We have a few extras)!!!

24: Candle light is romantic!

24 days to go!

Before I boxed up all the supplies for the centerpieces I did a trial run and took some photos so that Rhiannon (our go-to girl for decorating the day of our wedding) has an idea of what we want them to look like.

We are using 5" round bubble vases, filled with black sand and a white candle. These will be placed on a 12" x 12" square mirrored tile (supplied by our venue) and then silk red rose petals will be scattered around the vase.

All's that's missing from the photo below is the square mirrored tile ... but overall this is the look we are going for.

You can't really see the black sand because of the black coffee table. We decided to use sand to "catch" the wax as the candles melted for an easier clean up! We used the black sand, white candles, and red silk rose petals to tie in all our wedding colors!

25: Being an organized bride!

25 days to go!

On our wedding day I will be spending my morning at a local salon getting my hair and make-up done, along with my bridesmaid Linsey and my mom, and by the time I get back to the venue/hotel I will have just enough time to grab some lunch before its time to start getting ready because we are doing all our photos before our ceremony! With that being said - I had to find someone who would be willing to set up our venue with our DIY details (our favors, our ceremony reserved signs, our "in memory" candle & poem, our guest book, our centerpieces, our programs, our photo sharing instruction cards, our reserved tables signs). Luckily my maid of honor's best friend said she could fill this spot for us and take care of these little decorating details. We only have one hour to get all these details in place - and during that one hour I will be busy taking photos with our bridal party and our families and then getting ready for our ceremony - so I'm very relieved to have Rhiannon stepping in to take care of this for me. With that being said, I'm working very hard to get everything ready for her and organized so that it's easier for her to get all this accomplished in only one hour! This past weekend I spent some time removing stickers from our centerpiece vases, then washing & drying them. Then I portioned the out the black sand for each vase and the silk red rose petals that will be scattered around the vases.

Portioning out the sand

I then placed all the vases back in their boxes, and put the portioned sand and rose petals in each vase along with a candle - that way on the wedding day everything is ready to go!

All boxed up and ready for The Big Day!

A close up of all the centerpiece items inside the vases ready for assembly!

29: Reserved signs

29 days to go!

About a month ago I spent one afternoon tackling as many wedding projects and I could get my hand on. Some of those projects included finishing up our birdcage card box and working on some of my bridal shower decorating details among other things.

One of the other projects I worked on were our reserved signs for the chairs during our ceremony. I choose to only make reserved signs for our immediate family members so they would feel special and so that our divorced parents and their new spouses or significant others will know where we would like them to sit.

I used some left over card stock from our invitations and the same black ribbon I used on the birdcage. They were very simple to make and they turned out great!

49: Just a little personal touch

49 days to go!

With just a little over a month to go to the final RSVP deadline ... I thought I would share some of the personalized RSVP cards we have received back so far.

We decided to do personalized RSVP cards because I really liked the idea of our invited guests being able to send up little notes on the RSVP cards and because I'm a scrapbooker and I wanted to be able to save them all and look at them over the years.

Here are some we have gotten back so far!

We've gotten some sweet ones

From my mom and my step-dad
*we have a sign above our bed that says "always kiss me goodnight"

From my cousin and her husband

*my cousin Judy was ordained to perform our ceremony & I am so lucky to have amazing family like her in my life*

Our good friends Steve & Valerie
*they are getting married in June*


We've gotten some funny ones

Our good friend Zach
*he's coming all the way from Florida & ironically enough he is bringing an old co-worker of mine*
*Zach and I share a love of the movie Anchorman*

Our good friend & groomsmen Mike
*I might buy him some bells to wear on his shoes at the reception*


We've gotten a lot of blank ones :(

My brother and his family
*good thing it's all "YES" because 3/4 of them are in the wedding*


MY FAVORITE

From my grandma and step-grandpa
*a sweet inside joke*

This is just a small sampling of some of the RSVP cards we have gotten back so far. I'm looking forward to scrapbooking them after the wedding :)

50: DIY Birdcage card box

50 days to go!

A while back I blogged about finally completing a long awaited to-do list item of painting the birdcage that we purchased to use as our card box . Well, not only was it finally painted black to match our wedding colors ... but I also finished decorating it and it has officially become my 1st completed wedding DIY project!

Here is the birdcage is all its black glory!
A big THANKS to Jon for spray painting it for me! xoxo


And here it is all wrapped in ribbon and with the little card I made attached


A close up of the card

*The design mimics our invitations and our RSVP cards and other upcoming DIY projects - and even some completed DIY bridal shower projects too*

I am very pleased with the way this project turned out AND I'm super excited to be able to hang this birdcage on our back porch after our wedding :) *yay for being able to re-use a wedding related purchase*

It was relatively simple to decorate, I just weaved the ribbon, printed the card, cut to size, and attached with hot glue! *yay for my first completed DIY wedding project - see a previous post for already completed DIY bridal shower projects*

57: Painting the birdcage

57 days to go!

I've got this to-do list that's about a mile long and one of the items that's been on it for a while is to spray paint the birdcage we are using as our card box. Here is a photo from the website that we purchased the birdcage from:

And, here is the inspiration for what we want our finished birdcage to look like (this photo I got from a fellow blogger, Stefanie who got it from Knottie mauiluv's bio):


The birdcage is actually a brownish-antique looking color so we decided we would spray paint ours black to match our wedding colors.

Jon spray painting the birdcage

It still needs a little touch up but at least I can finally cross "spray paint birdcage" off my to-do list and move on to the next to-do item - trust me, there's a lot left to do!

61: Hershey Kisses from the new Mr. & Mrs.

61 days to go!

Have you ever wondered how many Hershey kisses come in one standard 11 oz. bag?

I never had until Jon & I went to the store to purchase the Hershey kisses for our favors. Originally we had decided on using Cherry Cordial Hershey Kisses because the wrappers are black and red and matched our wedding colors. That was until I was browsing the Valentine's Day aisle at a local drug store and discovered Hugs Hershey Kisses in red and silver wrappers! Flavored Hershey Kisses are hands down my favorite candy in the whole world (even though I'm trying to limit my sugar consumption). However, I know that some people do not enjoy some of the interesting flavors they have to offer (candy cane, hot cocoa, mint truffle, cherry cordial, etc) so I think switching from the cherry cordial flavored kisses to the hugs (milk chocolate with white chocolate) was a good decision.


Not only are we using Hershey Kisses in our favors but we will also have a giant martini glass on the bar filled with Hershey Kisses and we are also using Hershey Kisses at my bridal shower in February.

66: Finished labels

66 days to go!

You may recall that I previously posted about our favor tags and how we were searching for the perfect saying to print onto labels to put on the back of our tags. We finally made a decision (with a little help from fellow blogger Stefanie). Here is what we came up with:

How sweet it is ... to celebrate with you
Enjoy some kisses from the new
Mr. & Mrs.

They turned out really great and now I can't wait to start putting the favors together ... so check back for a post about the completed project soon!

70: Everybody loves candy!

70 days to go!

Jon and I love Hershey kisses. Well, actually we have a love/hate relationship with those particular little chocolate candies. Anyways ... when deciding what we should give away as favors at our wedding we both knew that we didn't want to give away something that would end up in someone's junk drawer or in the trash before the end of the night so we decided that candy would be the perfect little treat to thank our guests for being apart of our special day!

We decided we would give our guest Hershey kisses wrapped in tulle! Very simple. Very cost efficient. Very yummy! And of course they had to be wrapped with ribbon and a little favor tag with our monogram had to included! Luckily, in my early stages of planning, I came across this wonderful website that makes all sorts of lovely wedding details come to life. We've have ordered many items and time and time again I am very impressed with both the service and the quality! For our favors we ordered these favor tags:

They are just perfect AND include our "married" monogram!

Next I'm searching for the perfect "thank you" or love or math quote to write on the back. Each favor will be placed at each place setting on the tables ... and some extra Hershey kisses will be placed in a giant martini glass on our bar. Some of the contenders for the saying to go on the back include:

"Thank you for joining us as we begin our new life together"
"Thank you for sharing in the joy of our wedding day"
"Thank you for sharing our joy on this most precious of days"
"When you add the sum of two hears in love, the total can be so sweet"
"How sweet it is to celebrate with you"
"Thank you for sharing in the sweetness of our wedding day"
"Love is sweet"
"Here's some kisses from the new Mr. & Mrs."

Which one do you think we should use???

82: Another DIY project

82 days to go!

Another DIY project I just decided to do (since we have some left over invitations mats) are reserved signs to hang on the chairs at the ceremony for our immediate family members. It's definitely not a necessity to have - but just another way to make our day personalized. They will be simple signs that mimic our invitation mats and will say Reserved Mother of the Bride (or another family member) that I will attach to ribbon and then have my day-of person (my cousin's best friend is standing in for this role) attach them to the chairs for the ceremony.

Just like the memory candle - this project is still not complete, but as it also comes to life I will post pictures.

83: In memory

83 days to go!

One of the many wedding DIY projects I am working on includes an "In Memory" candle that we will have set up at our reception. The candle will be in a hurricane vase that was purchased at Michael's Craft Store and will be wrapped in ribbon in our wedding colors (black and white). We will use a white pillar candle and fill the bottom of the vase with black sand (to mimic our centerpieces). Next to the candle will be a poem and a list of names of people celebrating with us in spirit.

Here's the poem we are using:
Those we love don't go away
They walk beside us every day
Unseen, unheard, but always near
Still loved, still missed
And always held dear

*I found the poem on someone's planning bio from theknot.com - but I can't remember who (I actually know that I saw it on several people's bio's when I first started planning)

As soon as I saw that poem, I knew this was something that I wanted to incorporate into our wedding. Unfortunately, our list of loved ones is quite long - but I know they are all in our hearts and will be watching down on us as we become husband and wife.

This project is still in the early stages and no where near complete yet - but I will add photos as the idea comes to life.

Card ... cage???

When I started thinking about what kind of card box we wanted to have at our wedding I was at a loss. There were so many traditional choices that can be found on any number of numerous websites but I decided that I wanted something that was not traditional and maybe just a little unique or different. My first choice was to use an antique looking chest. I found many choices at local craft stores but they just didn't seem to fit with our decor. Then I started thinking that maybe we should just use a hurricane vase, since we are already using one for something else - that I'll blog about later. But, then we would end up with two hurricane vases and that wasn't unique at all. So, I started searching around and discovered that something that a lot of brides are doing is birdcages. At first I thought well, that's not really unique because a lot of people are doing it. But, I kept getting drawn back to the idea of using one. So, I brought all my suggestions to the husband-to-be and asked him what he wanted to use - and he said "the birdcage"! So, I got busy researching for the best price and I found this birdcage from this website (where I also purchased some of the items for our center pieces and favors - which I blog more about later).
It was very reasonably priced (under $15) and when it arrived I knew that we had made the right choice. We plan on putting spray painting it black (its currently a bronzish color) and putting red rose petals on the bottom. We also plan on wrapping some ribbon around it and placing a monogram on the front, probably this one:
(designed by BriannaNichole)

Here is our inspiration photo of what we want the finished product to resemble:
I got this photo from a fellow blogger, Stefanie who got it from Knottie mauiluv's bio . This is the same birdcage that we bought!!!

I'll make sure to post a picture of our finished product!

Flower Girl Baskets: attempt #1

Kylie had found me the perfect flower girl baskets - they were adorable and not too expensive ... so Saturday we went to the local bridal shop where she had seen them to pick them up (after we went to David's Bridal and picked up my shoes and all the bridesmaid dresses). BUT the store was out and did not know if or when they would be getting more in ... so, its back to square one with this little detail. I'm going to search the internet for just the right baskets for my two favorite little girls :)

Flutes, Knives, and a topper

I finally purchased our toasting flutes, cake knives, and cake topper. They are from the Lenox Forevermore Collection! Here are pictures of them in all their glory!




The next purchase will be the paper supplies for our invitations ... since we finally made some decisions about what we want to do and what paper we want to use! Check back later for updates!

Just a quick little update

A "where are we in the wedding planning" ... update!

With 218 days to go we've successfully accomplished the following planning details:
~Secured an officiant to perform our ceremony (my cousin Judy)
~Written our vows and ceremony
~Secured our ceremony and reception location and date, and paid two hefty deposits
~Secured our photographer, florist, DJ, and bakery and paid some smaller hefty deposits
~Picked all our flowers
~Picked our cake flavors and design
~Purchases, paid for, and picked up my wedding dress
~Purchased and paid for my wedding day shoes (not yet picked up)
~All bridesmaids have ordered their dresses
~Purchased and received my garters (my something blue)
~Purchased and received two different paper samples and decided on a company to purchase our invitation paper and envelopes from
~Picked out our toasting flutes, cake topper, and cake knives (just need to purchase them, while on sale)
~Started centerpiece trials and have almost (this close) to deciding what we want to do
~Sent out our save the dates
~Had an engagement party thrown for us :)
~Started collecting music/creating play lists for the DJ
~Created, added, changed, and deleted many items from the ever growing to do list

Things we still need to do:
A LOT - I will not even bother to list them at this point

Upcoming things we'll be doing SOON:
~Dance lessons :) (maybe)
~Purchasing the toasting flutes, cake topper, and cake knives
~Purchasing two flower girl baskets
~Inquiring about slips for my dress
~Purchasing the paper and envelopes for our invitations
~Start printing the RSVP cards

218 days to go!