DIY weddings are cool!

We are trying to do many of the decorations ourselves to save money. Cara came up this weekend, so we headed out to Ikea and Walmart on Friday night. Cara really wanted this giant bear, but fortunately, there wasn't any room in the cart!

We wanted to make some flower balls (I belive the technical term is pomander...but what fun is that to say?) Supplies all purchased...and some even on clearance!

We spent most of our time last night pulling of the cheap little plastic green pieces.They look great so far! Two are done! They actually took a lot longer than I expected! Of course, it didn't help that we didn't start until almost 10 pm either...or engines might have been running a little low!

I don't know about you...but I LOVE them!! I made the whiter one...Cara made the pinker one. I liked the "variety!" {Hee hee...Sorry Jenna, I only have about 8 more months for that joke to really be funny!}Then things went downhill with the flower balls...

As evidenced here:

and here.I had also purchased some tealight holders at Ikea. 2.00 for 12...I love cheap deals! So we played around with some of the ribbon I had left at the house (most of it has been taken to my parent's house for storage!) I like those too! :)

Maybe it's just me, but I'm so excited to get to do these little projects over the next few months!

Great Deal!

My slight addiction to theknot.com has paid off!! I just scored 71 chocolate brown pocketfold invites! :)

Now I will just have to purchase the other half! :)

Decoration Ideas

This is the area where I'm afraid all my ideas are going to come together and look like someone threw up pink flowers, white tulle and candles and said "Good Enough!"

My lastest obsession is having a dessert buffet. All sorts of goodies and treats to sample instead of just cake. I do like the look of these letters...

I found super easy {cheap} directions on how to make a cupcake stand like this....

....All neatly residing on a table decorated like this! If we do go the dessert buffet route, I believe we will use a long rectangular table so we can fit more goodies on it! :) Or something like this!Centerpieces
Here is my inspiration for the centerpieces. I love the look of the square vase, but after pricing out how much it would cost, it just wasn't worth it. We found a lady in town who rents out party supplies and we can get cylinder vases for less than a dollar a piece. After pricing out with the florist how much real gerber daisies would be [$3.00 a stem x 5/6 flowers per centerpiece x 30 tables]..I decided to look into a cheaper option--fake ones! I am normally not a huge fan of fake flowers, but for centerpieces that no one will remember in 5 months....
We went to Hobby Lobby in Mankato and scored a great deal on three different shades of gerbers. 120 flowers later....They will look something like this. With the ribbon below wrapped around the stem of the glass. The flower arrangements will be on half the tables. We are renting these tealight holders for the other half of the tables.

I managed to score some great deals at a thrift store in Forest Lake after work one day. I got four of these tall stemmed tea light holders. Not sure where I'll put them, but I couldn't resist! The pink candle holder will be used with the unity candle... I also found 8 of these vases for $.50 a piece! Again, not sure what they will end up being used for....but I can't turn down a $4 deal, I guess! We are also going to be attempting some sort of ceiling draping with white tulle, and I've collected lots of white lights to hang within the tulle. This is the part where I feel like I need to hire a professional. Or I might just end up hurting someone! How do you make your vision become a reality???

Unity Candle

We purchased our unity candle at Hobby Lobby for a whopping $7.00 for the set! I love the pearlized white color...just enough shimmer!

Venues

The Church

It may not be the most beautiful, stunning church, but it is the place that I have always pictured myself getting married at. When we first started talking about our future together, I made some comment about traveling to Blue Earth for our wedding and Jim said "I'm not getting married in BLue Earth." I had never realized that there would be someone else's opinion to take into consideration! I, of course, started crying realizing that if "our" wedding were to take place, it might not be in Blue Earth. He didn't realize that I felt so strongly (boys!?) and by the end of the night, he said that he wasn't against it, but he would want to look into getting married up here, as well.

Fast forward to the actual engagement time, I played to his financial feelings that it really is going to be much cheaper to get married in Blue Earth. And here we are. :) Ok, it was really because this man will do anything to make me happy, and he knew that I wanted to get married in my hometown!

I can not wait to be standing at the end of this aisle!

And just a shot of the balcony. See? Nothing fancy, but it's still special to me.

The Reception

Being that the wedding is taking place in a town of 2500 people, there are not many options for receptions. Larger neighboring towns have more places to rent, but it was important to me to not make my guests have to drive any farther, since most of them will be traveling at least 2 hours.

That leaves Hamilton Hall and the Country Club. I have never been a fan of the Country Club because it is broken up into smaller rooms, so some guests can't even see the dance floor from their seats. Because of the number of guests, we would have to seat people downstairs as well. How would you like that? "We'd love to have you at our wedding, but you didn't quite make the cut to be with the good crowd, here's your seat in the basement!" It's a beautiful location, but not the best choice for us.

Hamilton's is all on one level and open to everything.

There's the door where you enter the hall. This section will be set up with rectangular tables. Oh, and I'm standing in the bar area to take these pictures :D

Here is the center section, home of the dance floor! During dinner, round tables will be set up to house the bridal party and immediate family. Off to the right of this picture would be another section that will be set up with rectangular tables. (You can see the divider that is closed)

We will also be having our rehearsal dinner here on Friday night. Jim did not want to have it at Double Play, a Sports Bar and Grill. Which just happens to be the ONLY sit down restaurant in town. (I told you it was tiny!) So we decided to go with a more intimate setting. We will be in the first section and will be able to have everything else on the other two sections set up for the wedding. Then Friday night/Saturday morning we will just have to transform that last section!

What will the boys wear?

I am leaving this decision up to Jim, as long as I can be involved in the final decision....

Why, would you ask, do I feel the need to add this last approval rating? Just jokingly, I asked Jim if he would wear this....And he didn't think it looked too bad! :)

In reality, this is the look we will probably end up with. I am not a fan of all white (ties, shirt, vest) on a groom, so we'll probably go with something that has a little color in it. Champagne or a bronze color to coordinate, but not match, the bridesmaid dress.
I love this look with the all black though...wouldn't that be hot with pink! Jim is, at this point, vetoing pink ties...but I normally get my way...so you'll just have to hang tight and see who wins! :)

Bridal Attire

Yep, there's me blogging in my wedding dress :D

Here are the earrings that I think I will be wearing...

I actually bought two necklaces because I wasn't sure which color would work. I got the white to match my dress...but then I saw the pink, and of course had to have that, too! But being as each necklace was only $13.50--I figured I could afford it.

My veil! My aunt Lisa is actually making this for me....and she did a trial run with pink! We'll be making some adjustments, but for the most part, this is what it will look like, only in white.

After looking at this picture a few times, I think I might want to shorten it up, but I also want to see it with the dress before I make any decisions. My favorite wedding bargain to date!This headpiece, which perfectly matches the details of my dress, was purchased at The Silhouette, in Easton MN. I was searching for bridesmaid dresses and headed over to the Silhouette to check out there selection. Since I still hadn't purchased a tiara/headpiece, I decided to look for one there. I wasn't finding anything that suited my tastes that was in my budget. The sales lady pointed me to their bargain room. I took a gander and lo and behold, I found my headpiece.....$166 on sale for $10. Yes, you read that right, I didn't leave off a 0---it was $10.

Flowers!!

I think that I may be slightly obsessed with the "perfect" bouquet. We will definitely be using gerber daisies and roses, but I'm open to other pink flowers to help fill out the bouquet.

This is the bouquet that I hope to re-create for my bouquet. I heart it. A LOT. I think the stargazer lilies are a perfect addition, because every time Jim sends me flowers, it always includes some type of lily. Stargazer lilies are my favorite, though!
I also love the crystal initial pin. I purchased one for each bridesmaid and myself {before I technically got engaged!}, but I haven't decided if I will have it be a part of the bouquet, as shown, or if I will have it attached to the stem.

Credit: Knottie GillrobI like this for the bridesmaid bouquet, because it's almost like mine, sans the stargazers! The florist quoted me about $50 a piece for it.....You do the math (10x50=$500)...YIKES! Why does beauty have to cost so much!

I like the ribbon wrap on these flowers!

These are technically the flowers for the centerpieces, but it works out all the same. We'll be renting some cylinder vases for cheap instead of paying for the square ones I really wanted.

Ribbon will also be tied around the vase, but these pictures were taken quickly inside Hobby Lobby! We got a great deal on the flowers...only paid about $.63 a stem!

My dress!!

Aurora D'Paradiso 6837
White

Here are the stock photos of my dress. I heart *most* of it....that nasty gathering on the butt has got to go. Thank goodness for amazing seamstresses!

It just sparkles so much more than the pictures can show...but isn't that the case with most stock photos? We got an amazing deal on this dress from Brides of France in Edina. The dress was $1,000, marked down on a sale to $600....and then they marked it down another $200 because the zipper is broken. Ah...we love good deals! It's a little big too, and hopefully by the wedding, it will be a little more big...hee hee, of course, before the seamstress takes it in!

Ok, here's the pictures of the day we bought it. The dress is too big, I am not wearing any formal undergarments, and this is 'sans' crinoline..