Initials

Yet another project to add to the DIY list - moss covered initial letters, which I would love to hang at church and then somewhere at the reception. I'm loving ideas that can serve double duty and work in both spaces, and with the right materials this is another piece that can easily be done ahead of time.

In other news, we registered for pre-cana last night and began to focus on our ceremony. I was admittedly not looking forward to choosing readings and songs for our mass, but once we sat down together and started going through everything I really got into it. I sometimes feel like a dumb little kid when talking to Dan about church things - he is a pro after all, and I am definitely not - but when it came to choosing readings that spoke to us and our relationship it was encouraging and thrilling to me that we gravitated towards many of the same verses. While Dan tends to approach readings in a more faith-focused interpretation, I often look at them quite literally - which made for two varying opinions that happened to match really well when reading through passages. I'm excited about putting this time together into planning our ceremony and I'm sure it will be so much more fulfilling for both of us to have such a personal wedding mass!

Searching

I am currently googling like mad trying to figure out what typeface this is...

...as I have decided it is the PERFECT font for my wedding paper goods galore... invitations, menu cards, programs, cupcake toppers... you name it, I want to put type on it.

Head Table

Talk about simple. A few empty vases on the head table for the bridesmaids to drop their bouquets into makes for instant decor, and gives the girls somewhere to rest their flowers. I remember being in my best friend's wedding and not wanting to put my bouquet on the table for fear of it getting messed up, so this would be a great solution!

Score

Just landed this antique-y looking birdcage to use as a card box at the reception for a whopping $15 on craigslist -

A coat of spray paint will make this look perfect next to my DIY wishes jar and maybe a few candles or vases together on a table!

In other news - we spent the majority of our weekend on a teen retreat at Church, but while relaxing at home last night we finally found silverware at a reasonable price, I found the perfect water glasses online (although they're currently out of stock so I'm keeping my fingers crossed they show up again soon...), and a few emails to vendors confirming some details has given me a renewed motivation to continue cranking things out!

Story Time

It took a little stressing out (ok, a lot), a few redesigns and a lot of friends encouraging me... but I designed our save the dates, and I'll admit that I am absolutely in LOVE with the final product!

Since we haven't done our engagement pictures yet and I didn't want to incorporate any graphic elements, I was really set on simply working with text in complimentary fonts. I decided early on that it could be fun to do a little "outline" of our relationship, and once I started putting it together - and Dan pitched in a couple lines - it worked!

Dan's friend Kelley printed them for us, which was great because she was super helpful and understanding of my paranoia about the final product being absolutely perfect. You know, because those are the kinds of things that keep me up at night. (Unfortunately, I'm not kidding). We ended up having to order specialty envelopes because of the size, but found some online in the perfect color - and the slight oversize made for a "major statement in the mail!" in Dan's words.

I still need to learn to use the manual settings on my camera, but the auto-mode still made for some fun shots!

We printed the return address labels at home with the same fonts I used on the cards, and I liked that the circle shape played off the circles in the design -

I got the popular King & Queen of Hearts stamps that I've loved for ages, and was thrilled to see the accent of blue in them that went perfectly with the envelopes -

Click on the image below for a zoom if you're interested in reading our little story! :)

Tag it

So glad my mom has a Sizzix so I can make things like this in a snap.

PS - currently debating veil or no veil. Feel free to weigh in, oh loyal (4) readers!

Complicated

In the last few weeks alone, I've gone through several rounds of ideas for centerpieces, always landing on a DIY option that will inevitably require a TON of work given we'll likely have around 30 tables of guests to decorate. I'm holding strong to my paper flowers, and I continue to search for a way to hold them that not only looks good, but also isn't just a random vase from the store.

I talked about collecting different cut glass vases and painting them all the same to make them look similar overall. I talked about adding baby's breath in as a base around the paper flowers. What I didn't mention anywhere in blogging was my original idea of gathering salvaged wood from New Orleans (where we fell in love) and building flower boxes out of it. Clearly, this would have involved somehow getting a ridiculous amount of wood from a city that just happens to be, um, a 15 hour drive from home, and that's just not feasible (although I definitely attempted to figure it out).

The wood from New Orleans idea stems from my being completely stuck on every possible element of our wedding being personal and having some kind of "meaning" to us and our relationship. Perhaps just as difficult, but not requiring a road trip halfway across the country, I saw an image tonight that sparked new inspiration -

Allow me to explain -

When we bought our little house a couple of years ago, we inherited two massive pine trees in the backyard, that a friend of my dad's promptly removed for us given they blocked out any chance of grass or sunlight, and crossed through power lines causing a potential hazard. The logs from the trees have since been stacked under the back stairs for future use in our still non-existent firepit. 

Last year, my dad attempted to cut the logs into slices for my good friend Lauren to use in her own wedding centerpieces, but since they were old the bark quickly stripped off, and the rustic feel she was going for was completely lost. 

But what if they could be used without the bark? Say maybe, sanded down smooth and painted a fun color? And hollowed out like the above image to hold my precious paper flowers? Yes my friends, I have figured out my ideal perfect centerpiece. And yes, it will require a crap ton of work, which I can assure you Dan is just thrilled about. :)

I'm forcing myself not to get too excited about this just yet, as the wood has now been through two solid winters and I honestly have no idea what kind of shape it is actually in. But trust me when I say I'll be dragging a couple logs inside as soon as I can to do some inspecting and brainstorming. Keep your fingers crossed for me!