Future Reception Site

Well in about three months this backyard is going to be transformed into a reception spot. :-)  Imagine it with tables EVERYWHERE, benches around the pool, candles floating on the pool and cafe lights hanging overhead. :-)  After being here a week, I feel much more comfortable now to head back to Illinois to start on a bunch or projects back there.  First up, send EVERYTHING in Illinois to California so it's all there when I come back in June. haha Tami, hope you're ready for craft nights because we'll have plenty to do! haha

Cocktail Napkins

Cocktail Napkins are ordered.  They will be on the diagonal like this but they will be printed in green and they will have our wedding logo printed on them.  Hopefully the proof will look like I want it too. :-)

Cupcake Stand

I ordered a cupcake stand from www.save-on-crafts.com and have spent the last 3 days spray painting all the pieces.  I finally finished it this morning and assembled it.  I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Candids

So it's probably a little outdated with the use of digital cameras so much now but I always wanted to put a disposable camera at every table so I could capture so more candids of people that attended the wedding than maybe just what the photography would get.  So I bought one for every table.  Pictures have been a huge part of my life.  Anyone that knows me can attest to the fact that I pretty much have my life documented in photos, so why wouldn't my wedding be any different? :-)

Jones Soda

So I know it's frivolous but I thought it was cute to personalize the label. I ordered some Jones Soda today and had Brian and my picture put on the label.  I had to of course keep with the color scheme so I got Fufu Berry and Green Apple.  They probably taste gross but they will look cute. :-)

Aisle Decor......Check!

So hopefully these will look a little bit better when they are on a ocean view patio but you get the idea. :-)  So mom and I have just been going to town this week knocking out as much wedding stuff as possible.  One of the things on my list was figuring out what I'm doing for decoration down the aisle for the ceremony.  I didn't want a lot because I didn't want it to take away from the backdrop there. 

Pennants

I can't take credit for these pennants.  I need to give credit where credit is due.  Whitney made them for me.  Even crazier yet, she made them all in Microsoft Word!  She missed her calling as a graphic designer. :-)   I love California but what I don't love is that you have to go to like 4 different stores to get done what I could accomplish at Meijer! haha  So after I got frustrated running errands last night, I came home and cut out pennants while I watch the Bachelorette.  Mauzi thought they were a place to rest her head so I had to keep moving her so she didn't lay all over my craft project! haha  But they are done and I think they turned out really cute!  Props to Whitney!

Flowers are Ordered!

This has been a VERY productive trip for me!  I was stressing a little before I got here because there seemed to be soooo much to do but Mom is a true trooper and has been a huge help.  We've gotten tons done since I've been here.  Just taking an inventory of the garage was a job alone.  I feel so much more at ease now that we've gotten a lot accomplished.  Today I met with Flowers Direct and went over what I wanted for my bouquets.  This is what we came up with.

I want my bouquet to look like this.

The bridesmaids bouquets will be a cluster of different colors of pink carnations with....

Just a little bit of baby green hydrangea mixed like.....



 Like this look

The groomsmen boutonieres will be a single dark pink carnation with....

These green coffee berries

Brian's boutoniere will be a single green orchid similar to this.

I'm super excited about the flowers and sooooo glad to have one more thing to check off the list.

Flower Balls

I couldn't find carnation balls anywhere online so I figured they couldn't be that hard to make myself.  I'm in love with a website called www.save-on-crafts.com They have a ton of craft stuff for wholesale prices.  So I bought some styrofoam balls, a truckload of carnations and went to town!

I started with a 5 inch styrofoam ball because I wanted them to be like the size of mini basketballs so regular sized ones. haha

I just got about 250 carnation stems which were like $20 from Save-On-Crafts

Then I pulled all the blooms off

And started sticking them in all over the styrofoam ball.

Here's the finished product.  Super easy, relative cheap and took me about a half hour to do all three.

Sprinkles

Cupcakes are ordered!  Whew!  Mom and I went out today with the intention of getting a LOT of wedding stuff done.  We however got distracted by Nordstrom and then Nordstrom Cafe and didn't get as much done as we had hoped! haha However, we did get the cupcakes for the wedding ordered.  We fell in love with Sprinkles Cupcakes years ago long before the obsession made it cross country.  They have been our favorite for years and while others have tried to come in and match what Sprinkles does here in California, they don't seem to quite have the flavor, texture or overall yummy goodness that Sprinkles has. :-) If any of you are a Cupcake Wars fan, the founder of Sprinkles is one of the judges so you may recognize her in the picture below. :-)  So for the wedding we will be having lemon, vanilla, red velvet and chocolate coconut.  Yum, can't wait!

They will have cute pink and green dots on them as well as diamond rings, and some with T's and B's.

I didn't get their cupcake tower but it will be laid out on something similar.  Maybe with my monster lollipop on top! haha

The Biggest Lollipop I've Ever Seen!

I realize that the picture does not do this sucker justice but it's like a lollipop on steroids! haha It is larger than my palm by far.  I've been in Vegas all week for a convention and they had this cute cupcake shop in the hotel where they sold these.  The cupcakes were terrible but I liked the lollipop and thought it would be cute for a topper for my dessert table.  So probably not worth the expense but it was cute! :-)

Panic

Well panic has officially set in!  I still have over three months to go but started stressing about how much I have left to do.  I have been in this electic bohemian mode with Whit's wedding that I've half forgotten what all I want for mine. :-)  I also don't want to look like a copy cat with Whit.  It's hard getting married 4 months apart because unfortunately you do have a lot of similar ideas or ones that Whit stole from you and used ahead of you! haha

I had a dream last night that it was the day of my wedding and I only had half of the stuff ready to go and I kept thinking, my centerpieces aren't set up and I don't have the dessert table figured out.  Needles to say I woke up thinking that I have a lot to get finished.  Tami, craft night stat! haha

I did get the guys' flip flops ordered today.  I think were on the homeward stretch with figuring out all the suits.  We seem to have a handle on them now.  Thankfully the flip flops will be much less cumbersome.  They are more forgiving. :-)  These are the ones we went with.

Invitations

Invites are a funny thing aren't they? Why is there always this tug of war between wanting a really cute invite and at the same time not spending a fortune because you know no one cares or even pays attention to the invite you send. I mean I have never once taken a second thought to a wedding invite I have received. You get it out, scroll for the date, read those dreaded words "and guest" and then tape it to your fridge and go on your merry way! haha So why do I care so much that I have a cute invite? Why not just send out an evite? It's cheap, it's efficient, I'm saving trees and who doesn't like the idea of being able to respond back by email? Well as much as I'm ok with replying by email rather than sending out response cards and giving $0.44 a card to the post office(highway robbery if you ask me!), I'm not ok just yet with a wedding e-vite. However it's very appealing! haha

So my thoughts were to get some pink cardstock and take pictures in one of those photobooths at the mall and copy the photos and put those on the front with cute green ribbon. As much as I liked the idea, I wasn't sure I could pull it off without it looking super homemade and kind of cheesy, not to mention the fact that I wasn't sure it was my cheapest option.

The next choice was this invite I had found on Zazzle.com I'm not a huge gerbera daisy fan but I thought these invites were cute, they were like $1.11 an invite and it said the ribbon and daisies were included. I thought perfect. They're cute enough, I'll just do that.......

And then I got the sample in the mail. You can't tell from this picture completely but the ribbon and flower are printed on the card. So yes, they are definitely included but not quite what I had in mind! haha On to Plan C

We got Whit's invites at Target and they were super affordable and very easy to run through our home computer to print, so I thought I'd try there. I had seen months ago some invites that were white card stock with a hot pink band running through the middle. I wasn't super cracked about them, but I figured they'd work and I can't say that I really care terribly much about the invites. Well when I got there, they didn't have them anymore but they did have these. I thought they were really cute and fitting for my garden themed wedding, so there you have it I have an invitation! :-)


And the best part is, the invitations are done!  I had started on them months ago but Brian kept adding more and more people to the list so I had more work to do this weekend. :-)  I promised Whit that I wouldn't send mine out before her wedding for just sake or keeping the insanity to a minimum, so I kept to my word, but I put them in the mailbox yesterday and it felt good to have one more thing out of the way.

Suits

So now that Whit's wedding is over, I can focus fully on mine again.  Currently I'm up to my eyeballs in tan suits from Perry Ellis.  We went to the Aurora Outlet mall a couple weeks ago and found they had tan suits at Perry Ellis for $100 due to the semi annual sale.  I immediately thought it would be a great idea for Brian's wedding outfit, so he tried it on, it fit, and we went on our marry way.  After we got home, I realized that getting the same suit for all his groomsman would make just as much sense since the price was so good.  So then I went and tracked down every guy's suit jacket size and started ordering.  The hard part was no one knew their jacket sizes, so needless to say I've been shipping suits back and forth from the store for the last 2 weeks! haha  He also doesn't have all of his groomsmen confirmed yet so were ordering for them just to get the discounted rate and then returning if they're not able to come.  So my office looks like this right about now.

And I have three more in my car and shipped out 4 others to the guys that are not local.

It's just a plain tan suit but has the look of linen without being linen

Brian wanted to wear his new suit to Whit's wedding and I think he looked pretty sharp if I don't say so myself. :-)

Brent wanted to wear his as well but he couldn't match Brian entirely so he didn't wear the jacket. :-)  My boys look schnazzy!

The Big Day.........for Whitney! :-)

God definitely poured out his blessing on us all day Saturday.  The weather was beautiful.  We actually got sun burned a little and everything went off without a hitch.  The only thing we forgot was a knife to cut the cake. haha  They had to use a steak knife. :-)  From top to bottom, start to finish, it could not have gone any smoother.  I have to say the day of for me is like game day.  You've been practicing and prepping for months to get ready for that all important game that means so much.  So I get up early and make sure I'm ready before anyone else and then I just go to town.  I'm completely in my element.  I LOVE planning and even more so love to see it all come together.  I've found that over time I have gotten better at delegating.  I used to try to complete it all myself.  Now I know that is foolish, so instead I boss people around. haha JK  Overall, we had a great time together.  It was truly a wonderful day and so many memories documented.  Here are some pictures from Saturday.