21: Table for two, please

21 days to go!

Jon & I opted to have a sweetheart table at our reception instead of a standard head table. We did this for several reasons. We wanted our bridal party to be able to sit with their husbands/wives/significant others AND we wanted to be able to have a few moments alone to bask in the newness of being husband and wife while being surrounded by our family & friends.

So, we ended up with 17 tables ... and 19 centerpieces! We have 18 of the centerpieces that I blogged about previously and a special centerpiece for our sweetheart table. I think we will end up putting the extra centerpiece on the guest book table.

And for our sweetheart table we purchases this cylinder vase for my bouquet! I wrapped it ribbons matching our wedding colors and attached our married monogram!

I think my red rose bouquet (our third wedding color) will look beautiful in this vase sitting on our sweetheart table during our reception!

22: Don't let my title fool you

22 days to go!

We actually have 16 days to go but time has been flying by and I'm quickly learning that there are not enough hours in the day for me to get everything I want accomplished.

With that being said ... I decided to sit down and catch you up on everything I've been working on. With just over two weeks left to The Big Day a lot of the little details are coming together!!! Let's see how many I can show you before the clock runs out and The Big Day is upon us!

23: Shaken, not stirred

23 days to go!


Do you remember seeing this giant martini glass before?

We used it at my bridal shower as a decorating detail. Here is the photo after I decorated it for the shower, wrapped in white and Tiffany blue (bridal shower theme colors) crete paper:

Doesn't it look so much more sophisticated wrapped in black and white???

You may recall that I mentioned I planned on using it again - at our wedding. So, I removed the crete paper and re-wrapped it with white and black ribbon. It will be placed on the bar top and filled with Hershey Kisses (the same candy we are using in our favors). It will also have a cute little sign next to it (that I have not made yet) that will say "how sweet it is to celebrate with you ... enjoy some kisses from the new Mr. & Mrs.) - the very same saying that is on our favor tags!

A little history behind the martini glass --- I love martini's. Dry, extra dirty, Vodka martini's - shaken, not stirred. That's why we decided to put this giant martini glass on display at our wedding reception - and we decided to fill it with Hershey Kisses because even though we are putting a small handful (5) of kisses in each favor ... we know, first hand, that sometimes a small handful just isn't enough AND everybody (except for both of our fathers - who are both diabetic) loves candy (heck, they both love it to - even if they BOTH know they are not suppose to eat it).

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!

26: My bachelorette party invitations

26 days to go!

We got the bachelorette party invitations from the same Etsy seller that we got the bridal shower invites from and they turned out just as great as the shower invites did!

By now all my closest girlfriends have received their invitations so I thought I would share a photo of the invites because they turned out so great & I love them!!! My favorite part is the martini olives across the top!!!

Seller inkOBSESSIONdesigns

My bachelorette party is coming up in a couple of weeks & I'm getting very excited for a Girls Night In with my closest girlfriends! We are going to eat yummy food, drink yummy drinks, and play fun games! And have a sleepover! I think, since this party will be two weeks before The Big Day, it will be just what I need to help me relax and enjoy the last few weeks of being a Ms. before I become a Mrs.

27: Pretty dresses for pretty little girls

27 days to go!

Today was a very successful day conquering many items on the to-do list and completing some DIY projects. But before I get to any of that ... I want to blog about the adorable dresses we picked up for our flower girls a couple of weeks ago.

We are fortunate enough to have two absolutely adorable little girls in our lives - my niece, Shyann, and my cousin's daughter, Taeyah. Shyann is the daughter of my only brother and she just turned 6 in January. Taeyah is my maid of honor, Farina's, daughter and will be 4 in April. These two little girls are so darn cute that I just had to have them both as flower girls in our wedding!

Considering how young these two girls are I wanted to wait until pretty close to the wedding to get them dresses. I also wanted to be budget savvy and find matching dresses under $50 each. I started searching online in late December but I was not having any luck finding anything in the price range I was looking for. Then one Saturday afternoon, as we were out running errands for my bridal shower we decided to stop at Burlington Coat Factory to see if they had any white dresses for little girls.

One of the dilemmas I was running into online was that Shaynn wears a little girls size 6 and Taeyah wears a toddlers size 4T. Online I was not finding very many options of the same dress in both toddler and little girl sizes. Luckily, Burlington Coat Factory had a wide selection of white christening gowns in all sizes! We searched the racks until we found matching dresses in both sizes, in our price range, that were almost as adorable as the little girls that will be wearing them!


This photo does not do this dress justice! The girls got to try their dresses on at my bridal shower (I wish I would have gotten a picture) and they looked so darling in their matching dresses - I can't wait for them to wear them on our wedding day!!!