Wedding Details Continued!

Last Wedding Post....promise!

If you know me personally, you would know I have an affinity for paper.  I'm really quite obsessed. I love the feel of it, the texture, the assortment, the smell... yes even the smell.  So its no wonder I have stacks and stacks of it in all kind of varieties.  When I'm not creating things with sugar or working in Illustrator on the laptop,  I'm making something with paper!

So when it came time to pick out the paper goods for my wedding, such as invitations, programs, place cards - I was all set to go!

I wanted our invitations to look classy but still have that handmade quality that I love so much.  So I teamed up with the lovely Plum Blossom Paperie to create what I had in mind. 

They printed up my invitations, response cards and envelopes for me and provided me with the die cut sleeve for the invitation. I picked up the ribbon, (my other obsession) rhinestone buttons and rhinestone accents and spent an entire day putting these babies together. A little tedious when you have over 100 to do, but it was worth the paper cuts and glue gun burns when the product came out to be just what I wanted.


Invitation making turned me onto a whole new world of glorious papers....the shimmery kind! I have never been more in love with a single sheet of paper.

Next project was our wedding programs and place cards. I wanted all of the paper goods for the wedding to have a cohesive look, so I used the same kinds of shimmery papers. I did have to do a little investigating to find a shimmery paper that was inkjet safe.

I designed the programs in Illustrator with a little touch of a turquoise damask pattern on the top. I went a different route from the traditional booklet form. It was more of a wedding ceremony summary. Finishing touches was adding a thicker piece of cardstock to the back for support and a cute little black ribbon to cover the seam between the pattern and the rest of the program.

Next up: Place Cards

The place cards were fun and simple to do - until some of our guests started responding at the last minute causing issues with our seating arrangements. I had to redo a few tables a couple of times.  Not fun when you're trying to prepare things ahead of time!  I just cut and folded shimmery black card stock and adhered the guests name and table number to each card. I added a little rhinestone to each card for a touch of sparkle.  I love that hot fix pen - so much fun.

Last but not least, our favor tags.  I purchased these from a great shop on Etsy - FaithfulCrafter.
She loves paper just as much as I do!   I would have loved to make the tags myself, but for anyone planning a wedding, you know its just not possible to fit everything in. Etsy never fails me when I'm looking for something very specific.

  That concludes the showcase of all paper goods used at our wedding :)  Now here's a cute picture of our adorable cake topper made by MilkTea on Etsy. It's too cute not to share!

 

Wedding Continued: Groomsmen!

      Next up we have our groomsmen!  They wore turquoise ties and napkins to match our bridesmaids dresses.

 

     Picking out gifts for them was a little more tricky than for our bridesmaids. For the girls, I knew all along that I would like to get them jewelry, it was just a matter of deciding what style.  For the guys, we really had no idea and it took a lot of brainstorming.  Each guy is so different and we didn't want to settle and just get them a monogrammed beer mug, which they might already even have. 

     We were really going for "timeless" with the gifts we gave our bridal party - we wanted them to be special first and foremost, but also last a long time and be used again and again. 

      My husband came up with the idea to get them pocket watches.  I loved it! The timelessness, the revival of something "old and lost." I knew most of them probably wouldn't have one already, so it was perfect. Luckily, they loved them as much as we did!

    

To match the champagne flutes I got for my bridesmaids, we also got our groomsmen these fun whiskey glasses from ArtsyAsh101.

Wedding Details Part I

I'm a pretty detail-oriented person, so wedding planning for me meant personalizing every single little detail possible.  For those who follow my blog, you may remember we asked our bridal party to be part of our special day via cookie (how else?)  with these little guys:

My bridesmaids' dresses were turquoise chiffon with a darker turquoise sash. The dresses alone were beautiful, but needed a little something extra. So my mother and I picked up some really pretty rhinestone brooches and she gave them as gifts to my girls at my bridal shower.

 

It gave the dress a nice focal point and blended nicely with the jewelery I gave each of my bridesmaids as a gift for being part of my wedding.

Brandy at hotmixcold made the lovely swarovski crystal bead and pearl necklaces, with matching earrings.

I got my sister, the matron of honor, something a little different so she would stand out.  From luxedeluxe

The necklaces looked so pretty on them! I also felt they were classic looking enough to be worn again and again.

 I also gave my bridesmaids these great champagne glasses with dresses painted on them to look like their dresses - from samdesigns22.

Next up: Groomsmen!

I'm Back!

I finally got a chance to get back on here and dust off the old blog! The past year has been a delightful whirlwind full of wedding planning, moving, and sugar (of course), which I can't possibly sum up into one blog post.  I will, however, break it down into a series of a few blog posts that way I get to cover everything ;-)  First up- Wedding planning!  I'm now a happily married lady enjoying the "stillness" after the past year of preparing for the wedding. I can't deny I miss the excitement and pressure of planning from time to time, but for the most part I'm relieved it's over and thoroughly enjoying the next stage in life - marriage!

Wedding planning was both fun and stressful.  I tend to have a type A personality and can't function unless things are exactly how I pictured in my head.  This causes for more stress and a harder time planning as it seemed most of the things I envisioned just weren't existing in any store I was going to or any magazine I was looking through.  Solution? DIY & Etsy!

I'm a pretty crafty chick and I enjoy making things myself and figuring out how to make things I don't currently know how to do.  But once we selected our venue and all of our vendors, there was already less than a year to go till the big day. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it all and that's where Etsy came in.  Etsy, for those of you who don't know, is an online marketplace with hundreds and hundreds of shops who sell handmade and often, custom items.  It is THE place to go if you need something you just can't find anywhere else - and my preferred method of shopping for any kind of gift I might be giving. I LOVE being able to support small and individual businesses.   Without Etsy and its brilliant sellers, I wouldn't have been able to personalize my wedding the way I wanted to.  But I'll save the details for another post coming soon!