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.

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 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. 

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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.

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 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.

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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.

wedding update

Are you all keeping an eye on the calendar? If you are you will have noticed that we are already into APRIL! This means that the wedding is fast appoarching, and I think that I may actually have a handle on this thing now {cross fingers, knock on wood, say a little prayer}. The past few weeks have been filled with prep, fittings, shopping and parties. I know, I know, not all bad. 

The great thing about a backyard wedding is the control that you have over everything, the bad thing about a backyard wedding is that YOU have to control everything. Thankfully I am not the only "YOU" in this equation. I know that I have said this before, but it is true. I have the best family ever! My parents, sister and bother are all wonderful people who are always there to help. Sometimes that help includes yard work. Now, I don't mean regular everyday, run of the mill raking, lawn mowing; I'm talking about cactus/plant removal, new planting, and let's not forget moving 35 tons of crushed granite! We were all on clean up duty, and my mom was in charge of planting. The rock, oh the rock! My dad is a power house! For five days he shoveled, wheel barreled, dumped, spread and raked. Whether he had help {my bro, myself, Mike, my uncle, or our family friend} or not, the old guy just kept moving! I knew my dad loved me, but I mean the guy moved 35 tons for me.

The dress fittings are finally complete, and now my dress is safe and sound at my parents house. The fittings weren't a big deal. I feel like they went pretty smoothly with just a minor hiccup {a lining issue}, but I really didn't mind the fittings because every time we were there we got lunch at the Cornish Pasty Co. It had not occurred to me until two weeks ago, but we should have had the Cornish Pasty Company cater the wedding. The light bulb in my head went off way too late. Oh well, that idea is fair game, but if you use it for your upcoming nuptials, just remember where it came from and that the Oggie is my favorite.

So far this what we have accomplished in the wedding world:

• Venue {and newly landscaped to boot!}
• Wedding party
• Officiant
• Dress {including fitting, shoes}
• Cake
• Food
• Rentals
• Photographer
• Music
• License
• Materials for decorations

With a few weeks left, there are still a few things to get done. Hopefully we are not forgetting anything!

getting closer

I broke the rule that I had set for myself when I started this blog. I missed a week of posting! Boo. I was sick last week, and did not feel motivated to do anything. {Of course I did paint my nails a few times, but I don't feel like any of these manis were blog worthy.} I am working on a little tutorial that I hope I can have posted shortly. 

So, I just wanted to share with the blogging world that Mike and I got our marriage license the other day! I didn't really have any expectations going in, but man that was easy! We were in and out in fifteen minutes. I double checked with Mike when the guy there asked, "Are you going to be getting married here?" Apparently an elopement is off the table for suresies. I guess I should get this show on the road then, and really start planning. 

wedding planning | cake tasting

Last Saturday Mike, my mom and I tried out some delicious cakes at A.J.'s Fine Foods, and we decided on the best three awesome choices. 

Marita is the cake decorator at the A.J.'s that we went to, and she was the best! Super friendly, excited, and talented. She also... got me. Something that I think may be very hard to find. Through this process, I have found a lot of different people with a lot of different attitudes. Thankfully there have been a few more good experiences than bad ones {a win in my book}. Marita, and the cake tasting was a great experience.

We ended up deciding on not one giant wedding cake, but three delicious cakes. Let me tell you all about them:

1. Raspberry Champagne: white cake, light and fruity, covered in a butter cream and whip cream frosting blend.
2. Cannoli: white cake, cannoli filling with mini chocolate chips, same frosting.
3. Chocolate Cannoli: chocolate cake with the same cannoli fillingm and same frosting. 

The amazing thing is the cost of three cakes is much less than the price of one "wedding cake." Who says you need to have just one traditional wedding cake? As with all things "wedding" cake is no exception, you get charged more, because you'll pay it. For those wanting a traditional cake, A.J.'s really did have excellent pricing, but Mike and I were looking for something a little more informal, and non-traditional. The three cakes that we picked were a third of the cost of a traditional cake. 

Here are some inspiration images for the style of cakes Marita is going to create for us.

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wedding planning weekend

I had Friday and Sunday off this past weekend, which was wonderful for wedding planning. Friday started with a meeting with my mom, we went over some ideas for setting up for the reception and how we are going to set up the ceremony. We also went over ideas for decor, and may have even finalized some plans. We wrote down a list of places that we were going to go that day which included Costco, A.J.'s and The Home Depot... yes that is right, HOME DEPOT!

I have heard great things about Costco's flowers, but didn't really know anything about them. I started researching online where they have pre-made collections where you can chose the colors, and pieces that you need, and they are shipped to you. 

I deciede to stop in at Costco and get some more information from the store {I always prefer speaking with someone face-to-face, a lot of the time they tell you things that you may not have even thought of.}. My mom and I stopped in, and were very happy to find an actual person at the flowers! Janice was super helpful, and incredibly nice. She had so much information and ideas, I think that this could be the best option for our budget, but we can still get great looking flowers. Here is a little "insta dump" of some of what I saw at Costco.
 

purple, green and white

gerbera dasies

spider mums

hydrangeas

After Costco we headed to A.J.'s the cake decorator was so nice, and energetic! It was obvious that she loved her job and was more than happy to help and make whatever we want. I still need to schedule a tasting, but I am really excited to get our cake from A.J.'s.

Lastly, on Sunday Mike and I met with officiant, who we both loved, and made it official. It's almost like we actually have a wedding in the works. Getting some of these things accomplished is really taking a load off my mind. I am no longer a little ball of stress, woohoo!

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:

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Candles:

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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.  

save the dates

So, I actually sent out our save the dates in the beginning of December. With the holidays and work taking up a big chunk of my time, I wasn't able to post them until now. I showed you all my inspiration of save the dates on pinterest here.{Although until this very moment, I thought that I had blogged about them, I guess that I was busier with work and life than I originally thought.}

As you all know, Mike and I are trying to make this wedding happen on a budget. So we decided that I would put together the wedding stationary myself. I had a few things working in my favor; I do have a little bit of a creative bug, Photoshop knowledge, and a mother who is a graphic designer. Although not everyone may have these things, there are always low cost options and templates you can use to created something that you love within your budget.

I picked up the supplies that I needed at Hobby Lobby; card stock, and envelopes, and of course I used my 40% coupon like always. Other than that all that I needed was a computer, plenty of printer ink, Photoshop, a straight edge and an X-acto knife.

 I also did a little research before I created our save the dates. You can look into how much it cost in postage to mail your save the dates, square cost more. Also check to see what size your envelopes can accommodate. The envelopes that I picked up were 5" x 7", which means that I could make this invites 5" x 7" and still have them fit because the envelopes actual measurements are 5.25" x 7.25".

Now I need to get started on the invites and response cards. Well, that and everything else.