DIY Flower Girl Buckets

Thought I would share my most recent project--flower girl baskets.
I knew I didn't want any of the typical white or pastel-colored satin baskets for my three toddlers to carry, so after seeing something I really wanted to duplicate and with the very helpful instructions of another Knottie who made hers, I decided to DIY.

Here is the basket that inspired me:

And here is what I came up with, incorporating the hot pink and black from our wedding palette and adding some whimsy for our 3-year olds ala the polka dots.  (Here are their little frocks, so you can see why this works...)

with silk flowers inside (will use fresh day of)

And, yes, the baby model:


Cost Breakdown:

• 3 wooden buckets, Pat Catans Craft Center: $.89 each or $2.67
  
• Hot Pink Grosgrain Ribbon:$3.00
  
• Polka Dot Ribbon: $3.00
  
• 1 Roll of white Bridal Trim: $.99
  
• Can of pink spray paint: $3.25
  
• Roll of pearl beads: $2.50
  
• 2 tubes of Quick Hold Craft Glue: $3.00 each or $6.00
• TOTAL= $21.00 OR $7 each

Dana Saylor Designs!

Ok, so since the time I came across Haute Bride jewelry I have coveted the bracelets and wanted to have one, bad, for my wedding day. But realistically--wasn't happening. I can remember very clearly the look fiance gave me when I told him I wanted a Haute Bride bracelet and told him the price--upwards of $300...
So when a girl is in a bind---gotta get creative!
Enter Dana Saylorwho also has an Etsy store. And enter my bracelet---plus three bracelets for our flower girls, for a quarter of the 'Haute' price!

Lasting Impressions Event Rental, Cleveland

So I visited Lasting Impressions while at home and was very pleased with their customer service and very shocked with their selection. I was helped by Kristen (I think) but also worked with Patty over the phone and both are great.
We're using them for some of our rentals--highboy tables and pipe and drape.
Although we found a better deal for our dinner table linens, you can imagine my delight when this was the first thing I saw when walking into the store:

click pic to make big and clear!

You have to love that satin damask-print linen in their showroom!
So cute! And pops so well against the red so will surely pop well against hot PINK!

Well, trust me, the company knows this print is hot...because they are renting those things for literally an arm and a leg.
So I was thinking to use a few to break up my main linen color.
But then, as I was putting in my main linen order with BBJ Linen I happened to come across these photos on their web site (the bottom two images):


Not QUITE damask...but still really close....and equally pretty!

Well, the BBJ Linenversion is considerably cheaper....so...you know being the budget bride I am....!

The Shoes that Could Have Been...

Sorry for my lack of enthusiasm in writing about this.
But I am not happy, because the crazy, ridiculous, pink and purple satin shoes I was counting on were too big and they have been sent back.
And now, I am still without shoes.
So here you go. The long awaited pics of the shoe, on its way back to the UK.




Image from retailer:

Florist Mock-Up

One thing I really love about our florist is that she is very patient and willing to work with me and change things until it is perfectly what I have in mind. This is a reason I highly suggest brides-to-be do mock-ups/trial runs of their floral components with their florists well in advance of the big day.

In the case of my trial run, I loved the mock centerpieces she made except for a few minor changes. The floral for the ceremony, however, was not what I had in mind. But that's ok. Because we have plenty of time to fix it and after the trial I really feel like we are on the same page.

So in the name of NOT divulging entirely too much, here is a sneak peak at one of our floral elements....I won't even say what it is, and I've majorly cropped the photo. But suffice to say we HAVE decided to use carns as part of our decor.

A Wedding-full Weekend

Happy Friday ladies!

I'll be MIA for a few days. I'm headed to Cleveland for the weekend for a mock-up with my florist; to sign a contract with DJ; to visit the showroom of one of my rental vendors; to pop in to my venue; to see and cry over the perfect pair of shoes that arrived at my mom's house yesterday and that she told me matter-of-factedly would be way too big for me; to send the shoes back (but not before taking and posting photos of the tragedy); to do a cake tasting and last, but certainly not least, to have a get together with some Cleveland brides-to-be.

Yikes!! That is a whole lot to do in two days!!
But that means I have a whole lot to tell next week.

Enjoy the weekend!

Ciao~

Damask Boxes

Would YOU ever think to look at Organize.com for reception table decor? I sure would not. But it is here that I found these super cute boxes. They are actually 'photo organizers' or 'photo storage boxes' and they were just $6.99 each. I have big, big tablescape-ish plans for them...

Polyvore

I think I am in love! Polyvore is a virtual 'dressing room' or 'outfit creator' where you can pull items from different web sites and import your own items to create sort of fashion boards. But of course the web site is great for creating wedding-ish inspiration boards too.
Here's one I made of the types of things I'd love to see in my wardrobe this summer.
Enjoy!

The Big Shoe Reveal...

No worries fabulous ladies!

I WILL show the shoes.  Promise.

That would be really shady not to, as someone wisely pointed out, after all the 'Shoe Saga' drama!

The only thing is that...ummm.... the drama is not over, and there is a weird and annoying back story currently developing since I have ordered the shoes.

All I will say is that so far it involves me, my mom, and the United Kingdom.

Yes, weird indeed.

Exquisite Fabrics

For my bouquet, I have decided to carry fair bianca garden roses and ivory/cream orchids. The pics below are my 'inspiration photos':  

pics probably from The Knot and House Martin

I've been thinking about what I want to wrap the stems in (I know I only want the stems wrapped half-way)...

So, a good thing about my recent office move is that I am now just steps away from the Washington fabric store Exquisite Fabrics, which lives up to its name indeed!  So I skipped lunch and spent one lunch hour browsing for something pretty and embellished to use as a bouquet wrap.

I decided on one yard of this:

wrapped around a diet pepsi bottle!

As usual, photos don't do the fabric justice.
Of course, I couldn't be shopping without thinking of my lovely bridesmaids. So in keeping with the lace thing, I also picked up a yard of pretty ruffled black lace that we may use to wrap their flowers--shades of darker pink roses and other flowers, something like this:

I'm taking this to my florist next weekend to see if she thinks it will work.

Never Mind all that Pimping Business...

I found shoes!
No further text at this time.

Pimp my Shoes?

OK girls!
I've been on a binge for the past two weeks.
An Ebay binge!
It started the day I decided I may have to get creative to be happy with what I choose as wedding day shoes.
It is no surprise that I have not yet found thee perfect pair of fuschia shoes...
So, I realize I may have to take matters into my own hands somewhat to up the flair factor of the pair of shoes that come closest to being THEE ones!

Now, if I decide to do this,let it be known this is no original idea. I'll be following in the fabulous footsteps of a few other brides who took things into their own hands--by puchasing cute shoes and making them much cuter via dye and bling.
Blingy clip earrings or small brooches are good candidates for shoe-makeovers.
And what better place to search than Ebay! Well, needless to say I got very carried away.
My purchases are still arriving in the mail daily, but here's what arrived today.

Warning: images of me playing dress-up with some of said bling to follow:

I love playing dress-up!
All of the shoe bling options together:

Yeah, all of that in one day...sad. But the good thing is that they are all vintage earrings purchased for as low as 99 cents to a max of about $8.99. They are all beautiful and much better-made than today's costume jewelry.

So...this is what I have in mind. To pimp my shoes, I would simply add a pair of bling to whichever shoes I end up with. Kind of like Knottie Vintage Glam did here (she also had hers dyed orange):

And how Knottie ilovemycoastie did here:

To be honest, I would rather just be able to find shoes that are perfect as they are and would rather not spend time doing this. But time's a tickin'...and I need shoes!

How To Make A Belly-Band

Of course this is only one way to go about it...

Below is a tutorial on how to create a very functional belly-band that will slide on and off of your pocket fold (or other) invite as a decorative element.

I hope it is useful!

1. You will need

• Satin double-faced ribbon or other ribbon of your choice
  
• 2X2 or 3X3 inch cardstock squares with a logo printed on them OR plain squares (and smaller stickers with a logo)
  
• Medium Permanent Zots (glue adhesive dots)
  
• Sharp Scissors
  

2. As I used 3X3 heavy paper squares and stickers, the first step was to place the sticker in the center of the paper square

3. Cut ribbon to about 1/4 inch longer than you'll need to wrap around your pocketfold (to allow for overlapping)

4.Press one edge of cut ribbon to Zots paper so that a few Zots stick to the ribbon edge. Do not pull Zots off with your hands. It is easy to just press the ribbon to them, and the zots will stick.

5. Wrap ribbon around the pocketfold so that edges slightly overlap and press edge with Zots adhesive to the other edge, making sure the ribbon is snug on the pocketfold but not super tight or too loose (so it can eventually slide it on and off) and then slide it off of pocketfold.


6. Take your decorative square and attach a Zot to the center back of the square then center it over your ribbon seam onto the ribbon.. Add a few more Zots to secure square to ribbon.

7. To speed up the process, pre-cut and adhere your ribbon and have your squares assembled:

8. Repeat!

Easy!

Small World

I just wanted to say thanks to the several hundred fabulous ladies (and maybe gents) who glance at this blog daily.
According to my stat counter, in one day I've had readers representing the below, and that's really cool!

The Eyes Have It

I'll be doing some make-up trials soon, the first with an Aveda makeup artist (a good friend of mine) in the DC-area and another with a former MAC artist who freelances in Cleveland. So I am starting to think about how I'd like my makeup to look for my bridals and the wedding.
I hear a lot of brides say they want their makeup to look, above all, "natural" on their wedding day.
And although I don't want to look "made-up" and certainly not "overdone"--I can't say I want to look "natural" to the point of looking like my every day self...

That said I want to look glammed up a bit, and I want the focus on my eyes.
I don't consider Oprah Winfrey a 'style icon' for me, but I must say, it is photos of her makeup--particularly her EYES--that have stood out to me in looking for 'inspiration' photos.

What do you have in mind for your makeup for the big day?