Paper flower bouquets!

Here are a couple pictures of the bridesmaid bouquets I finished! Found sticks and bamboo trimming for the stems, tied them with ribbon and hot glued the flowers on the ends. I used green felt circles to keep the flowers connected to the stems.

We had such great success, my family and I, we are now making more flowers of our centerpieces! Such a great money saver.

http://www.weddingtalk.co.cc/2011/01/18/do-it-yourself-eco-friendly-wedding-bouquet/

Some great flower bouquet ideas. This one even uses newspaper! Love it!

http://handmadepaperflowers.com/

What amazing paper flowers this company makes! Wish I could afford them, but They have some beautiful work. Check them out!

http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-2010-paper-flower-bouquets

Like round bouquets? Check out this blog above. They used a stirafome ball and made paper flowers. Then attached the flowers to stick and stuck the pins into the ball! Perfect idea!

http://wn.com/iris_(flower)

Learn how to make a paper iris flower origami style! Love this idea, might use it for my bouquet :-)

Ribbons

http://www.designmom.com/2011/04/ribbon-party-decorations/

We have been getting ribbons in the mail from friends and family. So many beautiful colors and sizes.... Sean and Leslie cut the ribbons yesterday and sewed loops in the top of them so we can have them drape at the back of the canopy! The canopy will be made out of bamboo from Sean's parents yard.

Wedding favors

I found some recycled bamboo coasters :-)

A candy table is in the works with brown paper bags stamped. Planning on incorporating some moss and maybe some tree bark as well. Might add some homemade cookies to the buffet as well.

Bridesmaid dresses

My two highest points of criteria when shopping for bridesmaid dress:

1. Cost

2. Multiple styles to fit everyones body type

Since I've done dance costumes all my life, I know what it's like having to wear something that doesn't really fit right, isn't flattering on your figure, or is just uncomfortable material. When shopping for my dance costumes for the kids I teach, I remember these factors and try to find costumes that they will hopefully be comfortable in. I had the same ideas when shopping for my bridesmaid dress. You want them to look "In Sync," but what about feeling comfortable and confident? I hope that with this multi-way dress from Victoria's Secret that I found, my bridesmaids can feel this way. At $73 bucks a dress, I thought that it was a pretty smokin' deal.

I'm obsessed with cowboy boots. They are comfy, and just soooo dang cute! When my sister-in-laws "to be" mentioned... bridesmaids in different cowboy boots, how could I say no!!! Half of my bridesmaids already have brown boots, the other half always wanted a pair. It's such a great idea. <3

When shopping for a venue...

Make sure you like both the indoor and outdoor option for a wedding in Seattle. You never know when it's gonna rain here, or snow. It just snowed yesterday, April 6th. Crazy weather in the Seattle area.

Also, besides first off finding a venue that your size wedding will fit, you also need to find a place that allows for you to have some freedom is decorations and expressing your "feel" of your wedding.

Lighting in the venue, and the amount you are allowed to have inside/outside is one of the most important factors for a wedding. I didn't know this until recently... but you need lots of candles. Even if they are flameless, that's ok you can still get the ambiance and it really helps soften pictures as well.

Find out all extra charges before hand. We found out at our venue if we use the chairs outside, we have to pay $1 per every chair they set up. That's fine because my family is very helpful, but it woulda been nice for them to clarify this matter before. Then they changed the amount of the venue on us from $2,800 to $3,500 for using our own catering. Lastly, they changed our 1 hour rehearsal price from $100 to $150. I love The Manor, it's so beautiful. But I'm upset with the owners and management for changing prices on us.

What it comes down to is you still have to make it work. And, in the end I get to marry the love of my life.

Mason Jars

Sean filled 50 mason jars half full with dirt. We are putting candles in them for the ceremony. Hoping for an outdoor ceremony, but Seattle weather in unpredictable.

He also added wiring to hang 22 jars if we need to at the edge of the chairs at the ceremony. We will also use these jars at the reception.
I wrapped 21 mason jars with moss and tied them with raffia. My sister-in-law Jenny and aunt Leslie helped me. Buying table runners of moss was the easiest way, we just cut the table runners to wrap around the jars.

An enchanted forest reception. Love how many mason jars we have just laying around to use for the reception. Can't wait to dec the venue out with mason jar centerpieces wrapped in moss and mason jars everywhere else with candles and dirt inside.

I also really like the idea of putting old pictures in mason jars of family. I want to put a picture of Tanya Guseva in a mason jar. She is a friend of mine who passed away two years ago from a horrible car accident. Wish she could be there for our special day.

The invitations

Momental Designs makes some beautiful tree invitations that are all individual pieces are art. They even paint on some of the flowers after they design your tree invites and put whatever you would like next to your tree. If you can afford $9.75 per each invitation set (envelopes, invite, RSVP), then by all means, they are beautiful. But with a tighter budget, we decided to make our own tree invites.

http://www.momentaldesigns.com/trees/

I got packs of 50 ivory invites with envelopes and RSVP cards for 3 bucks each. We bought 5 boxes because since we were printing them ourselves, might as well have room for mistakes and such. So $15 later, we had our invites. Jen Kelly is sooo wonderful, she designed our tree invites and we printed them at her work for a small cost. The stamps were the most expensive part. In all, I probably spent $150 for 250 invites with the stamps and everything! At momental designs i would have only gotten 14 complete invites for that price... crazy!

Save The Dates

Jen Kelly and I found this idea on the Wedding Talk blog.

http://www.weddingtalk.co.cc/2010/03/30/free-photo-save-the-date-calendar-cards/

We loved the idea of the heart push pins on the date of the wedding, but decided to create the hearts on the computer instead to save some time.

The dress

One of these dresses might be mine?!? Sean told me not to put this up, but the real deal will look way different. I also found a brooch to wear on my right hip. Love it!

This is the dress I thought I was going to get. I am really happy with the decision I made because this dress is around 3500 bucks. But if anyone else loves this dress like I do, it's a Rivini dress. They make some beautiful pieces.