100 days

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the wedding planning has been in full swing for months now. however, this is the list of things that still needs to be done:

print direction cards for invites

final meetup with vendors

type readings for church ceremony

rehersal dinner invites

20 envelope liners (60 are done!)

80 invite bands (cut & eyelet punch)

programs

silhouettes

grow wheat grass

look up bouquet tutorials

purchase pocket scarves

gifts

make-up

veil

headpiece

jewelry

shoes

set up time for dress alterations

design thank you cards

guest book

table numbers

marriage license

seating cards

puchase/make chalkboard

find/purchaseisle runner

vases for the church

baskets for the church

wreath for the church

possibly purchase paper lanterns depending on what our venue says.

whew.

mister are you reading this?

we've got our work cut out for us and let me tell you - i am feeling a little stressed.

how did you deal with all of the pre-wedding planning and purchasing? what helped you get through your long long list?

all about the age difference

not many people realize this at first but, i am 6 years the misters senior!

i know the horrification.

we met while working together. i was the finance department assistant and the mister was the finance department intern.

it started as just chatting in the office. then we realized that we took the same train. which turned into us planning on where we would meet in the morning. which eventually led us to falling madly in love with each other despite the fact that we had a little bit of an age difference.

we've had a few 'haters' over the past two years and there were a lot of people who thought it was a fling, you know, a mrs. robinson type of thing. even now there are still a few people that we know of that just don't get it and continue to make comments...HOWEVER

there are just as many people in our lives who see how much we love each other and how committed to our relationship we are that support us 100%.

so that is us in a nutshell. a little unconventional i know but at the end of the day neither one of us could imagine life without each other.

are/were there any barriers that you and your love had to overcome while you were dating/engaged?

Centerpieces: Part 2

another target dollar bin score.

seriously.

i cannot get enough of that place.

these you can actually still get this year so we bought a few more 'just in case' but really i just love them because of their perfect size.

inspired by

we will also have wheatgrass as a part of our centerpieces!

the table numbers [which i have no plan for yet EEK!] will hopefully be somehow 'stuck' into the grass.

while i am really excited about this it also means that about 1.5 weeks before the wedding i will be growing about 25 containers of wheatgrass.

does that make me crazy?

the upside: the misters mom is a horticulturist so hopefully there won't be any issues with the growing.

were there any ambitious projects that you took on the week before the wedding?

Centerpieces: Part 1

The month after we got engaged I saw these on sale at Target in the dollar isle.

I bought all the clear ones that they had at the store closest to me as well as all the clear ones at the store near the Mister's school.

I had no idea what I was going to do with them but I knew that they would be perfect.

here comes the...cake topper

i have to admit that prior to a few months ago i never really thought much about our cake topper.

i just assumed that the mister and i would have a ceramic cake topper like the one my mom and dad had.

and then i saw these:

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we fell head over heels for this one really quick. look at that sweet little banner! and those teeny birds! plus the hand holding.

i cannot even stand it.

then i saw the infamous and highly coveted sweethearts:

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then i became instantly confused.

like really truly ihavenoideawhattodo confused.

those glittered legs and the satin body, plus the pink flowers and the top hat. le sigh.

so dears, i turn to you.

super sweet custom cake topper to look like me and the mister OR the much coveted ann wood birds?

paper and paper and um...well...paper

i have a few obsssions [which should actually read like a million] but this particular obsession has been something i've held near and dear to my heart from the very beginning.

paper.

i love it.

i love the way it feels in my hands. i love the way a good pen looks on a fresh clean sheet. i love thick paper that leaves an impression when you write on it.

don't get me started, i could go on for days.

that said i am sure it is not surprising when i tell you that the paper portion [save the dates, invites, programs, etc.] was the hardest part.

i will get more into the details of our paper in a different post but, i need to know:

were your invites more important to you than any other 'thing' [i.e. bridesmaid dresses, shoes, photographer] in your wedding?

how i do

so my workspace has been moved from the office, to the kitchen table, to coffee table and now i present to you the official wedding workspace!

i was working all over the house until the mister suggested i just set up one spot for the next few months that i can keep everything set up.

honestly, it was the best idea ever.

i love having a 'spot' to go to whenever the mood strikes. the hard part is going to be from keeping it from becoming a catchall for well, everything. [note the glitter that does not have a project yet but is still sitting on the table]

also, it is a constant reminder of what needs to be done. amazing.

how do you keep on top of your wedding related items?

an open letter

dear wedding binder,

where would i be with out you? you keep my ideas and inspiration safe and sound, you hold all of by business cards because you know that i would lose them, you keep track off all the deposits and amounts paid so far so that at a moments notice my money fears are calmed.

thank you for always being by my side.

yours truly,

me

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i am not sure how many of you have a wedding binder but let me tell you, we live by ours. the wedding binder was one of the first things i did when we got engaged. we knew that we were on a tight budget and that we wanted to do a lot ourselves so the binder seemed like the best idea.

it has not always been at the forefront of our planning but it was a great starting place and now with the wedding getting closer it has been really helpful in keeping on track.

i laid it out in a pretty easy format. timeline first with boxes to check off when we complete tasks followed by [in no particular order]:

Attendants [with phone numbers and addresses]

Program [notes and inspiration]

Flowers

Transportation

Photographer

Reception Site

Ceremony Site

DJ

Caterer

Bridesmaid Attire

Groom & Groomsmen Attire

Gown & Accessories

Honeymoon

Registry

Each of the above has its own tab with a contact sheet, inspiration, business cards as well as any other pertinent information.

How do you keep all your wedding information intact?

drink flags

this was a project that i knew i wanted to do but was not really sure the route i was going to take. Miss Trail Mix had super cute ones as did Mrs. Taffy.

i found the flags i purchased from michael's on super sale. they were .70 cents for 70 flags! i kind of wish that i had bought more than just two packages. [i tried google-ing them but no such luck]

a few weeks ago i folded all the flags and just put them in a ziplock bag until i knew what i was going to do with them. originally i was going to write 'i do!' on half and the other half would have said 'oh happy day!' then, while rummaging through my crafting supplies, i found a martha stewart stamp set that i had purchased when we first got engaged! of course and i had 8 million ideas for them but what did jump out to me was a little 'celebrate' stamp that was the PERFECT size for the flags and away i went.

oh! look! a little 'i do!' snuck it's way in there!

here we are ready to assemble.

regular bbq skewers that i cut down to fit into juice glasses that i think replicate the drink sizes at our venue [i hope]. not pictured: crafting double sided sticky tape.

i just laid a strip of of the tape on one side of the flag, inserted the skewer into the fold and VIOLA! instant drink flag!

this project was on the cheap side for us since i had a lot of the materials on hand.

here is what i used and the breakdown of the cost:

Flags: .70 cents x 2 = $1.40

Double sided craft tape (owned)

Skewers: $2.49 (found at the grocery store)

Ink (owned)

Stamps (owned)

Total: $3.89

Easy simple and cheap way for us to dress up our drinks and add a little flair!

Were there any projects that were way cheaper than you thought they would be?

125

we're at 125 days folks.

lots of crafting going on in these parts.

i know that i should really make a list instead of just working on little projects here and there but i really enjoy just kind of tinkering.

the little sister came over 2 nights this week and rounded 400 (yes, 400) pieces of card stock. that equates to about 1600 corners.

the good news: the entire invitation suite has rounded corners!

the bad news: there are corners EVERYWHERE. i'm not even kidding. i think we are going to be finding rounded corners for months after the wedding.

also, all of the stamping and folding is done for the drink flags!

pop (the mister's dad) started working on the birch log candle holders and oh man am i in LOVE. i am so completely sure that this part of the centerpieces will end up in people's bags before the night is over. they are THAT awesome.

i am so glad that we decided to DIY our wedding. i love knowing that the mister and i had had a hand in virtually every part of the wedding and that it really truly is 'ours.'

next on the list: envelope liners and belly bands

how much of your wedding are you going to DIY? Do you find it overwhelming or exciting?