our diy wedding part one

Mike and I have been married for a little over two months now, and I think that a wedding post is well deserved. I learned a lot when planning this wedding {one of the most surprising things is that I was "one of the most relaxed brides anyone had ever seen"} and have so much that I want to share. I am thinking that I can get it all out in two posts, but we might run into three!

I want to start with some basics that I think are good to know when getting into the head space of wedding planning. Here are some basic ideas and examples of somethings to keep in mind when planning a DIY wedding.

via

 Plan, don't plot
Plan as much as you can, but roll with the punches. We have all heard the phrase, "you plan and God laughs," for me nothing was more true than this sentiment. But here's the thing, I am not a professional wedding planner and "we don't know what we don't know." Trial and error is going to go into planning and executing your big day, but it is just that... a day. One day, not the rest of your lives. No one will remember 15 years from now what cake you had, or what the center pieces should have looked like, or that they were at a table with someone they didn't want to sit with. What matters on "your big day" is you and your partner starting the rest of your lives together. I cannot stress it enough, don't sweat the small stuff. Most everything will work itself out in the end, and what doesn't... doesn't really matter. 

via

Example: I got a call from the florist the day before the wedding letting me know that NONE of the flowers that I ordered came in. I wanted to do really simple bouquets, one type of flower, some ribbon, and... well that's it. Long story short, I asked the florist to stop calling me {she was WAY more stressed than I was, and I didn't feel like I needed to console her} and my mom, aunt and I tracked down flowers that were even better than what I could even thing of. Which leads me to my next thought...

There is no "I" in team
Use the support and help that your friends and family offer, when you need it. And appreciate all that people give you. I may have said this before but I have the most amazing family in the whole world. They are creative, loving, talented and devoted. Not to mention they all have great senses of humor, laughter goes a long way when wedding planning. Take help when you need it, but if you don't need help at that moment, don't take it.

via

 Example: I had so many people volunteering to help months leading up to the wedding. Family and friends were more than happy to lend a hand, which I completely appreciated and couldn't have been more grateful for. But, I didn't always need help when it was offered. I was really stressed in the whole planning process, but when I really needed help was the week leading up to the wedding. Don't feel bad about refusing help when you don't need it. But when you need it, ask your family and friends to step up, and they will. I love my family an friends just as much as they love me, and just as I would for them, they all came pouring in the help. Aunts and cousins were cutting fabric for our back drop. My dad, brother and family friends helped haul rock. Friends and cousins were helping with center pieces and programs.

Find people who "get you"
Not every vendor that I met, visited or talked to did I think was right for our wedding. Not everyone will see things the way that you do. What you want is for the people that are helping create your wedding to understand what you want to accomplish. What I wanted to accomplish was A.) to get hitched, B.) to celebrate with the ones that I love, C.) to keep things simple, D.) to not break the bank.Keep your goals in mind when picking who is going to be apart of your wedding. When I did find people that I thought knew what I was going for, I did not hesitate to pull the trigger and get them on board.

via

Example: The first place that I went to try on wedding dresses was to be honest, an uncomfortable experience. I made an appointment, brought my mom and sister, had inspiration photos and almost lost it when I was told to stand in front of the whole world in a dress that I did NOT want to try on that really made me look terrible. I mean terrible! I am not a "big" person and this thing made me look huge in places that I didn't even know that I could. I was a double booked appointment and to this consultant "simple" and "informal" meant taffeta, sequins, and ball gowns. Needless to say, we were not on the same page, and she was more interested in making the sale for the other bride than listening to me when I almost went full Carrie Bradshaw wearing a dress that almost made me breakout in hives.

I ended up getting my dress at a little boutique that had a awesome consultant who wanted to find something for me that I felt comfortable in, fit my body/ style, and wedding. I was with my Mega Best Friend {Shawna} and was txting photos to my sister and mom {not ideal, but you have got to roll with the punches} and we all decided this was the perfect fit.

Whew! That is all for now, but stay tuned for more photos, insights, and details on projects for the wedding.

tutorial | paper flowers

As promised, here is my paper flower tutorial! I really wanted to make paper flowers for the wedding instead of using real flowers. I fell in L-O-V-E with the way that they look, as you can see in this post, but just didn't have the time to make them all. I did attempt to make the flowers, and have about fifteen completed flowers, but I was defeated by these beauties. I did put together a little picture tutorial using the "PicLab" app that I downloaded onto my phone.

Here is a step-by-step on how to create a Kusudama Paper Flower:

Tada! I did clip notches on the tips of the petals for some of the flowers, but not on all. I used scrapbook paper for the tutorial, but origami paper for the flowers that I was going to use for the wedding. If I had a year to plan and prepare for this wedding, I would have used the paper flowers. But, six months was not enough time to get all of this done. Oh well. I am going to use the flowers that I made for something else around this place, I will show you all when I know what it is!

Give the paper flowers a try, and let me know how they turn out!

pinspiration | wedding table

Mike and I have actually started planning this wedding. Research is being done, emails being sent, and phone calls getting made. I am seriously overwhelmed, it's really hard to even know where to start. I know this doesn't sound that surprising, but if you have never planned a wedding before, you don't really know what you are doing. We have so many people {family and friends} that want to pitch in and give us a hand, which is amazing, but even getting that under control can be very stressful. Today I actually made some head way and narrowed done vendors to get more information from. I finally feel like I am making progress.

I am not going to bore you all with anymore talk of research and emails, on to the pretty pictures!

Now that I have a better idea of table rentals, I wanted to show some inspiration that I have found for some DIY table decorations for the upcoming nuptials. 

Paper:

via

via

Candles:

via

via

via

via

I already have a bunch of glasses / vases that I plan on incorporating into centerpieces, so what I go with may be a mixture of the two ideas.  

wedding | bouquet

I have a few other things in the works for the wedding, and Mike and I have officially picked a date {more on that later} and I have some ideas in mind for bouquets and boutonnieres. I didn't want to go in a traditional route, and flowers can cost quite a bit. I have been toying with the idea of paper flowers {and have started making some}. Here is the inspiration that I have found for this non-traditional look:

via

via

via

  

via

 The last one is my favorite style, and I have already started making the semi-origami flowers. Once I get a complete bouquet made, I will make sure to post pictures. 

polish please | a little vampy

I feel like I haven't really posted anything nail related in a while, so I might as well tonight. I love the way that this mani turned out {I cannot stop looking at my nails}. I made an agreement with myself that I would not buy any more polish until I wore everything I own at least once... yeah that didn't happen. 

When I was strolling through Target {always dangerous} I was over in the clothing department {no where near the polish} and there was a gift giving display that had clutches, accessories, and you guessed it, POLISH. I looked around for a little while, and picked up each color carefully looking at it, and then convincing myself that I really didn't need it. I put back one after another, almost like I had will power, until I ran into this gem:

Bobbing for Baubles by Essie. Self-control, shmelvf-control, I NEED this. The love was instant, and into my basket it went. This of course was only a gate way polish; I needed another fix, and off to the polish aisle I went. That is when I made friends with this baby:

Your name didn't lie, you are Beyond Cozy, and beyond gorgeous! I would love to say that I left it here. Two polishes, and out the door, but I did pick up this top coat. That is when I called it a day, and came home to make some magic. This is what I came up with...

In real life {opposed to blog life} it is a little darker, and a little less navy. This could be the easiest color that I have ever applied, it could have almost been a one-coat deal. The glittery goldish-silver also was very nice to apply {I haven't always loved the way Essie polishes apply or dry, but this was such a pleasant surprise}. After I applied the colors to my nails, I thought that there was a little too much contrast between the nails, so I used a little scotch tape to create the glitter triangles to the bottom of my index finger nails.

Not only am I super stoked on my latest creation, I also just got over 1,000 page views here at baileynicoleblogs! Thanks everyone for your interest in my ramblings!

baby shower

This past weekend my mega best friend Shawna threw a baby shower for our friends at her house, and I got to help! Michelle and Omer are the first of our friends to have a baby, and with that knowledge, you know that this baby is going to be spoiled rotten. 

Shawna and I came up with at theme for the shower food, kids favorites! So at this Jack-and-Jill shower we had pigs in a blanket, mac 'n' cheese, PB&J {with the crust cut off}, and cupcakes! We also had fruit salad, and an amazing salad that Omer brought.

Papa and Momma!

Since it was a co-ed shower we wanted to make sure that the boys had as much fun as the girls. We stayed away from some of the shower games that you typically see {and there was no way that I was going to eat melted candy bars out of diapers}. Shawna put together a "how many babies in the bottle" guesstimate game, like the great teacher that she is, and we decorated onesies for baby Alex. I forgot to get a picture of the onesies, but some of our friends have a sick hilarious sense of humor that thankfully Michelle and Omer appreciate {Let's just say there was a g-string, a flaming skull, and the phrase "They shake me" adorning different onesies.}

Mike got very into shopping for the baby, and  think that we went a little overboard, but baby Alex is totally worth it. The adorable theme for Alex's nursery is outer space, and we knew that we wanted to get something to help decorate the nursery. We decided on a mobile, but this was easier said than done. It seems as though one cannot find a mobile at the typical baby stores that doesn't have some sort of animal dangling from it. This is not a bad thing, but not what we were looking for.

 
So I started doing some research and the only thing that I could find that matched the theme were ones like this and this on Etsy that were beautiful but a little spendy. So I went to my new favorite store Hobby Lobby to get the raw materials to create something for Alex. {More details on how to make the mobile will pop up in a later post.}

the mobile was a hit

Congrats to Omer and Michelle! We are all so happy for you and your growing family!

I did want to leave everyone with a bingo sheet filled out by Shawna's husband, a game that we played as the gifts were opened. Needless to say, Shawna is NOT letting Dan register for baby gifts on his own when the time comes...

I don't know why, but the "cordless power drill" really cracks me up.

 

wall of frames

As you may seen in this past post, I have been inspired by empty frames as decor. I decided to take it into my own hands, and onto my walls. And this is how it all went.

I first picked up some frames at various places/times {target, ikea, hobby lobby}; all the frames were bought with a difference purpose in mind. These other projects never came to fruition, and left me with a box of unused frames. After a trip to Hobby Lobby, the purchase of the ampersand, and the veto of my original idea, I came up with a collage of frames for the living room wall. I started by removing the glass and backing, then laid out the frames on the floor in a couple of different arrangements.

Above is attempt one.

Here is attempt two, and similar to what I ended up with on the wall.

After measuring, and remeasuring, marking center of each frame, center of the whole collage, and tracing the frames onto paper I started putting these puppies up on the wall.

I marked the center of the whole collage on the top of the largest frame with a piece of masking tape, and marked the center of the couch up on the wall. I determined the height and mounted the largest frame to the wall. Next I used the paper templates that I made to arrange the rest of the frames on the wall. On the paper templates I marked the point of the hanger with an "X" as seen above. The paper templates made it super easy to hang this beautiful creation of mine {which I hung by myself in thirty minutes}. Once the templates were level and spaced, I hammered in the nails, removed the paper and replace the paper with the frames.

Here is the finished product. The prints are these from Ikea, which I fell in love with before the collage idea, and had to have them at five bucks. I may add to the collage, and expand it over more of the wall, or add to the empty frames {use them as shelves}. For now I am happy with the outcome.