Quick update:

In trying to get out of working on my paper (#3 out of 4 this month) I decided to do a quick update...Totally not my fault, I got my box of paper and envelopes today and I just HAD to play around and make up a sample invitation!!  Anyways here it is:

So the pic on the right shows the envelope (but the color is a little off!)

And I have to figure out what to put on the top square of the belly band (love that name for the wrap on the invite)...I had a monogram all ready but it has our names and a P and then I read I shouldn't use the P before the wedding... I guess I'll have to play around with something new! 

And earlier this week I also got the table squares for the reception...Since linens are expensive and we are poor, I have resigned myself to the white tablecloths at Giovannis and no chair covers, but I did want to do something on the top to break up the white!  So I ordered black napkins (which I don't have yet), and these black and white damask table squares that will sit in the center of the tables, as well as runners for the head table! Here is a pic:

Love these!  They are around 20"x20" I believe.  What do you guys think?  This with the cake, some votives, and black napkins...Should work right?  And the best part is I can totally sell these and the napkins after to get at least some of my money back!  OK- enough stalling, but I wanted to keep everyone updated!! 

And mom said she is planning an engagement party for Jan 30th (tentative date) so let me or her know if that doesn't work out!!

Get together

Caurie- great idea!  I have off school for about 4 weeks, so maybe we can all get together at my place for drinks and crafting.  Ha- I'm such an old lady...I actually was talking with one of our managers about getting a group together to learn how to knit and crochet- I've always wanted to finish learning how and she offered to teach me (and another girl..) Yeah yeah I'm old, whatever. 

Along with being old, I am also completely OCD...I don't know if this is a new thing or just being brought out in full force, but whatever it is, at least some people are getting a kick out of it (not to name any names Sean, Caurie, Dad...)  My "binder" that was referred to is my new planning book since I grew out of the old one.  Literally, my planning notebook was falling apart at the seams.  So I am  cutting and taping and organizing so everything is in one neat binder with page protectors and everything.  Go ahead, you can laugh.  I would.

Se here are some of the evening/nights that work for me (I know not for everyone as some are during the week but I have a weird schedule!): Dec 19th or 27th; Jan 2,3,7,8  If we could figure out which of these works, maybe we can all get together.  Let me know what you think!!

Thoughts....

I love the bouquets as well, and the felt will be lighter than holding all those buttons. They look fuller in the felt, and I think they will look great with our dresses. As for my handwriting....well it can be nice if it needs to be, haha, don't expect calligraphy though! I'm always around to fold as well when you are ready just let me know!

I am hoping for the best for you Heather.

Candice, put the binder for wedding stuff down and back away until the semester is over in a couple weeks. I promise it will still be there when your papers are done!

After everyone is done with school and other things we will have to get together for a pow-wow on things and get those paper projects done...or at least make a dent in them!

Hope to see you all soon!

Felt flowers and envelopes

I LOVE the felt flower bouquet!!  They look so cool!  Also, on the centerpieces with the flowers you could put black rocks in the bottom and that would look cool!  On to the envelopes-I don't think you have to have 2 inner envelopes (it's more environmentally friendly not to).  Also, Heather is right, having the DJ announce photo booth is awesome idea.  

(Side note-Heather I hope procedure goes well!  Will be praying for you guys!)

Back to wedding stuff-love the invitation paper.  Do not have nice hand writing so will not be able to help address-I vote we check school teacher Caurie's handwriting.  

Willing to help you fold millions of pieces of paper anytime (will even bring Chloe after she gets her stitches out to help de-spoil Sophie and Chloe).  

Candice-focus on your papers!  The semester is almost over then you will have a month to finalize and fold!!!  

Tissue Paper

Okay... In my comment to Candice's last update I wondered what the Tissue holders were for. Well, I figured it out (by re-reading the first DIY post). Questions still floating around in my head are the following: When do you give them away? At the church for the ceremony? With the programs? Who will distribute them?

I do like the hydrangeas on the cakes idea. Especially b/c there will remain a centerpiece on each table after the cakes have been removed. Are you doing white hydrangeas on white cakes? If so, how have you decided to tie in purple? Have you thought about table cloths and chair covers? And... maybe if you need something to tie in purple... you could do it with the favors (a little something letting them know about the photo booth). I'd also maybe have the DJ mention something about the photo booth just to keep reminding your guests to take their pictures.

I like the 'full' look of the felt flowers. And I think it's proper etiquette to have two envelopes for your invites...but I don't think it's necessary. Invitations come in all forms. I've gotten everything from an invite on a bottle of wine, to a postcard (yeah...those were really their invites) to a regular "Hallmark" looking card, to a formal invite with all the envelopes and tissue papers and invites. It's up to you...but whatever you choose... I'd really like to help. We're avoiding public places for awhile with all this flu stuff going around (We have our 'procedure' 11/25 and 11/30 which is why I can't risk getting sick). So... I've got nothing but time if you don't have any bugs!

Updates on paper DIY

Hi again- I guess this is turning into my personal wedding diary, but I'm going to update anyway, at least I'll look at it... =)
I took a few pics of some things I have been working on, so you can see MY versions of the example pics I posted before.  The invites will have to wait- I ordered some paper and am working on a template design...who knew it would be this hard??  I am having some second thoughts about doing the invites, but I really like the idea of doing it myself (maybe the same part of myself that had the brilliant idea of grad school...) And maybe I just want to be able to say I did it, but regardless, I ordered $200 worth of paper and envelopes so I'm pretty much stuck now! 
For the rest of my projects:
Here is a pic of the tissue packs I am making:

Those are kindof a side job as I get scraps from the pinwheels and everything else!

Here is a pic of the one lonely pinwheel I've made so far.  I'm debating whether to keep it like this, or I have some of those different edged scissors I can use to cut into the square which might have a cool effect to it...Stay tuned for updates on that..

I'm not sure why that didn't rotate, but the stick poking out of the left side is attached and that is the holder.  I love how these look! =)

Then One last thing I have is the vases for my centerpieces; as you may remember (or forgot) we are doing the cakes on the tables, but not all of them  as each cake serves more than 10.  The point is, we need some kind of centerpiece for about 1/3 of the guest tables as well as something for after the cake is served on each table, so heres the plan:  Each cake will have a white hydrangea on top and the centerpieces will have this square candle holder with a white hydrangea on top so they all match:

Except it will be a real flower and white, not this fake purple I bought.  And the cake tables will have the glass under the cake and then when they take the cake away, the hydrangea will go on top of the glass. and then everything will match.  We will also have some of these on the head table, in between the vases with bouquets in them.   I was pretty excited about these- I'm using Cherry Blossom and the owner Jodee is so awesome.  She is giving me a great deal and doesn't even charge any delivery or set up fees.  Lovin it!

Ok- well I have to get back to work on my paper comparing and contrasting two different types of theoretical frameworks for group psychotherapy...sounds fun right?  And you wonder why I have pages and pages of blog...

Candice

Bouquet question!

Is anyone even there??  Feedback would be helpful here people....=)  I now have a question on the bouquets- I was SUPER excited about my button bouquets and I still absolutely LOVE them, and the problem is now I have TWO ideas I love...Here is a picture of my toss bouquet that Brenda sent me (brenda is one of the duo that makes these) and the toss bouquet was a different style so as not to knock any single ladies out- it has felt flowers with the buttons on top.  I will try to get a picture of the sample bouquet I already have in the other style- I will add it later today!  These are lighter and more of a full look- here is the pic she sent me:

So this is before the black ribbon is tied on, but I totally love this style too!!!  So I need to take a poll and figure out what you guys like!  She is shipping me this one ahead before starting anything else so I can decide- no price difference so that doesn't help..
How often do I have problems where I have TWO awesome options...Never, so I can't complain but I am totally stuck here!  Help please....

***Update: Here are some pics of the 'sample' bouquet I bought before I made the official order- The main difference will be the wire will be silver (same as Toss bouquet) and the MOH and mine will be bigger.  Here are some pics I took tonight:

The color is much more like the one on the left, I'm not sure what happened to the other one...

Etiquette Help

Ok all I have a really stupid question for you about envelopes (or at least I think its pretty stupid!):
Since I'm making the invites, I of course had to pick this weird shape 4 x 9, and I can't find two sized envelopes to do an inner and outer envelope! Do I absolutely have to have both or can I just make a nice lined outer envelope that one of you pretty ladies will help me address with your nice handwriting???  If I have to have 2, then I basically have to redo my entire invitation to get a different shape and I really don't want to be super bridezilla already...!
Any help?

Hey Everyone!

I hope this works, as I too am blog illiterate. The invitations look great, Sean showed me one today and I am ready to help fold all the paper. Jennie the dress you like is pretty too, my favorite for all those who don't know is F13573. I believe it is the first picture on Candice's post the one with flowers in her hand. I think Elvis is a must, it wouldn't be Candice's day without him! I look forward to all the updates and such on here!

Errrr???

I'm not computer savy (hence "No Facebook"). So, I hope this posts where it's supposed to. Great intro's Candice! Your wedding is going to be gorgeous, whimsical, and fun! And Jenny... (a tid bit of info I learned from that there internet machine) the correct term for the chinese-paper-foldy-thingys are...wait for it... waaaaiiiiit for it... COOTIE CATCHERS! Now that's just fun to say! Anyhoo, I love the idea of the button boquets (plus they last forever) and they will be completely unique to Candice & Sean's wedding. I love the wedding dress! I'm pretty excited to pick out the bridesmaid dress as well! Let's keep posted on who gets what. Can't wait to find out more details. Candice: Let me know if you need any help with anything. From picking out questions, to constructing invites, to folding "Cootie Catchers" I'm there for ya.

PS: I'm stoked about the photo booth! That's the coolest thing EVER!

Jennie

Ok-I'm Jennie and am completely blog illiterate.  I attempted to upload a more recent photo and it kept taking forever-technology (my nemesis @ times).  I am so excited about Candice and Sean's wedding and am completely willing to help in any way from motivating to dress shopping to folding a million placecards/chinese thingys.  I will not however be willing to foot the bill for this as Candice is right, I just bought a house (and puppy).  I don't know if Candice wants up to all wear different dresses or some have the same dresses but here is the style I like the best #8567.  I liked the one Caurie picked out too but when I put this one on it was amazing!  

The photo booth is the coolest thing I have ever heard of (next to the place cards)!  I can't wait to see how this all will look because it is going to be AWESOME!  Candice if Sean gives you grief about the Elvis cut out I may have to get it for you as a wedding present :)

Jennie

Co MOH signs in

Hello! I am Niki, Candice's older older sister (but not 'bigger' as the runt of the family, i waved big sister bye a loooong time ago)
First, Can - yea!!!! I am already workign on my speech and can not WAIT to plan the bachlorette. I think Sara and I owe you some hard core drinkin' times.
Second - um, you can come this way too! Nico has been to my place more then you!
Third - you have so many amazing ideas - this is going to be gorgeous. I love the button bouquets and the different black dresses. Question - do you want us to get the same type of fabric to keep the color as close to the same as possible? Do you want them 'plain' black, meaning no sequins, etc? sara and I were at a wedding this past weekend, and the color was purple, and they all got to get different dresses, which was so cool coming down the aisle. Do you think we should let each other know what dresses we get, so we don't duplicate?

I will be happy to help and see what I can do for your variety of questions - and feel free to send some crafty projects my way. Here is one thing I learned - don't forget to count the time you are spending to make things as a cost. Sometimes, it is worth it to spend a little extra to have the time to get other things done.

Ladies - it was nice to meet you all, Caurie, I believe you were at my mom's house when you were little for a bridal/baby shower of some kind and found our cat's offering of rabbit heads on the front walk. Who knew we would be family! Heather and Jennie, I can't wait to meet you in person!
I can be reached at newearth11@gmail.com if anyone wants to talk wedding...

Updating the bridal party! Intros, ideas, and DIY

SO here is the blog form of the newsletter (already emailed to the ladies, new to anyone else!)


I wanted to start out and let everyone know who else is in the wedding
PART ONE

Cue Intros:

I will have two maids of honor as I have two lovely sisters who both are equally important to me and I need them both up there with me on my wedding day!

Here is a pic I snatched off facebook of them both:

Niki on the left, Sara on the right! Niki lives and works in Chicago for a title company (sorry Niki, I’m not exactly sure WHAT it is you do there…Sales I think!), recently got a sweet apartment I haven’t gotten to see yet! And Sara recently graduated from law school and passed the IL bar, lives in Chicago as well with her boyfriend Josh (who will hopefully be an usher for us in the wedding!).

As for the rest of the bridal party, (the girls at least), we have Sean’s sister Caurie, recent grad of NIU who teaches at a private school here in Rockford. Here’s Caurie (also stolen off facebook- I sense a theme here!):

The final two ladies are two of my awesome girl friends that I can’t wait to party with and will need them to make me laugh when I feel like crying!!

I met Jennie in nursing school- one of a select few good things that came out of that place (besides Sean of course!) =) Also lives and works in Rockford, recently bought a house (yay jennie) and got a puppy and works crazy hours as a hospice nurse. I owe this girl big time as I almost didn’t want to even go dress shopping but Jennie was excited enough for the both of us and I found my dress! (More on the dress later!)

And Heather I met the first night I went out with Sean. She was dating one of his best friends at the time (and now is married to him!) and has been a great example of how awesome married life can be! =) As Heather is not on facebook- I had to crop a picture, so I hope you can see it:

Heather also lives and works in Machesney Park/Rockford with her hubby Dave (one of Sean’s best men) and two beautiful HUGE dogs =)

Ok- so that’s it for intros of the ladies- intros of Sean’s boys will be saved for the next installment…

Now that you all know each other, kind of, I’m going to try to update everyone on what’s going on with the wedding planning and what not.

PART TWO:

I’m going to try to post some pics of my inspirations for my wedding planning. I have a huge book and multiple folders and post its full of random clips and notes I’ve jotted down, so it will be hard to get the full effect just from what I have online. But I’ll try to give you a general idea of where everything is headed so you are all in the loop! Since my dress is ivory instead of white, my “black and white” theme has changed to black and ivory…but I kind of have an assortment of things thrown in, so we’ve figured it is a traditional theme (like the black and white) but with a few quirks, as it wouldn’t be our wedding if it fit completely inside of “the box”. However, I like the damask details that seem to be fairly traditional, and they don’t really come in black and ivory, so hopefully the lighting will be dim and it won’t be noticeable! To start, here is an example picture of the cake design:

I’m hoping she can make the frosting more of an off white! We are doing the cake a little different too- we will have cakes on each table as the centerpiece (all on a cake stand) and then the cake table will actually only have a smaller 2 tiered version for us to cut. This way, all we have to worry about for centerpieces is some sort of décor around the cake stand (I’m thinking some flower petals and maybe some damask votives.

Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas-I seem to keep making adjustments to everything already! I need to make up my mind I think…

To stick with that theme- here is a picture example of the card box I am making- except mine will be purple ribbon and I plan on having a big “P” I’ll paint and put on the top. I found the boxes at Hobby Lobby on sale for less than $4 each in that pattern exactly, got the ribbon for 1.50 and an mdf “p” on sale for $1. Probably the best bargain I’ve gotten for the wedding!

I love it- I just hope I can put it together without ruining it!

This next project Heather is helping me with (Thank you!!) as I was going to buy them but she figured out how to do them herself- (and Heather I promise I will get you those questions ASAP!)

These are fortune tellers (or cootie catchers I have learned is another name) that will be printed on ivory and purple I’m thinking and will be used as place cards- they will have our names, the date, the guests name and their table number. Inside will be questions about me and Sean with the answers under the flap. This was one of the first things I found in my planning and I still love the idea (see- one of those quirky things!) Anyways- here is a pic of the idea:

Other things we are doing for the reception:

Photo Booth!

I’m so excited about this- this guy named George runs this company and he gave me a pretty good deal (which helps because I just had to have this!) He will print 2 strips of 4 pics- one goes to the guest and the other in a scrapbook for us, which doubles as our guest book as he will have markers an pens for people to sign and put their picture in the book. I’ve been thinking about buying a life size elvis cutout to keep by the photo booth as I still want a picture of me with elvis for my wedding…What do you guys think? I can’t decide if Sean will appreciate that or not…But I found one of Elvis in a tux and its only like $35- totally appropriate if he’s dressed in a tux right?

Also for the photo booth, I want to bring a white board or chalk board of some kind for people to write on and can hold up in their pics. George supplies an assortment of other props to be used. We can use it as much as we want, no limit to number of pictures and we have it for 4 hours of the reception.

Also going with the photobooth- I’m looking at getting purple tickets (like a ticket roll) and putting them with a sign on each table to let people know about the booth- I hope I can get everyone in it!

OH- heres one you guys will like to know about- I’m doing something a little different for bouquets as well (another quirk)- they are made out of buttons- they will be a mix of ivory and purple with black ribbon wrapped around the handle. The lady making them for me even did a matching pomander ball for Katelyn (flower girl) and is putting matching buttons on an ivory pillow for ring bearer. Boutonnieres and corsages will all match and be different sizes (grooms and dads bigger than ushers and what not)- here is a few example pics:

I got a sample bouquet in the mail last week and I’m completely in love with it! If you can’t really tell from the pics, the seller has a bunch of pictures on flickr and her id is rbkcreations (I found her on etsy- where I seem to have found most of my ideas!)

I hope you guys like them as much as I do, and if not- I don’t want to hear it as I already get it from mom!

Why is it that I have so much to let you guys know, but I feel like I have SO much left to do still?

Moving on to Attire:

I think everyone is on board with colors and styles right? Long Black dress- that’s my only requirement. I want everyone to be comfortable and happy with it, so please pick whatever you like and from whatever store (doesn’t have to be davids- that’s just what is available here!) I think we’ve already emailed some pics around, but here are a few I saved:

I love all of these, and I think any black would look fine next to each other! I know this seems rather haphazard but whenever you find something and want to order- go ahead! Just remember if you do get it from Davids, they should give you the discount (I think it was $20 off) if you go through my name/account. Let me know as you do order, so I can keep track and have pics and what not!

They will all look fabulous with my dress, which I will not be posting pics of as the boys will also be open to this blog!
Any help with veil ideas would be great- I didn’t even really want one, but I feel like I should at least for the church! I still need to find shoes too if anyone sees anything around- let me know! I thought about maybe getting purple shoes (you can’t see them really anyways) and I thought it would be fun- I don’t really want ivory shoes that I’ll never wear again…


Part Three:

This is where I really need help! I have had the hardest time finding invitations that I love that are in my price range…so I had the bright idea of making my own invitations. Mind you- I will need over 125 of them. So I came up with something I liked and then couldn’t find the paper, so I came up with about 4 or 5 other things I like, and now I can’t decide! I’m going to post some pics of examples, but really mine is different as I’m doing the pocketfold but without the flap that folds over, if that makes sense. Here are some pics I found that are close:

I’ve got one style that has 5x7 on each side and just folds in half- one 5x7 is invite, and other is pocket side with RSVP and Reception card in it. The second style is 4x9 on each side (without that flap on the left) and set up similar to the other size. My outer (pocketfold) is black and then I have a purple mat under the ivory invitation. The cards in the pocket are ivory as well. Hard to decide without seeing but what do you guys think? When folded, I have tried either ribbon with a monogram seal or a paper band with a monogram seal (wrapped around one half only- not really wrapped around to hold closed or anything). Any feedback would be AWESOME- I’m super stressed about this right now and at this point I refuse to buy them- I have almost everything I need to make them at less than $200 and I’m really trying to do this without spending more than I have too! I think my tastes are too expensive for my budget…These pocketfold invites are around $5 each to buy them already made- no way am I going to pay that for paper!

Other paper goods I am making (since I’m on a DIY roll): pinwheels for when we walk out of the church- I have various shades of ivory, black, and purple but here is an example:

I can’t figure out how to get them to spin and stay attached, so they may not actually spin…but they still look pretty! These were super cheap too- the wood dowels to hold them were 0.21 and that will be cut to make 3 stems. And the paper is 6x6 so I got 4 out of each 12x12 scrapbook paper (which was on sale 4/$1 at Michaels!) So besides the time to make them, they aren’t any more expensive than bubbles =)

I also wanted to make tissue holder (sappy like “tears of joy” packets out of paper but didn’t like the tutorials I found online, so I kinda made my own out of my scraps from cutting paper to make everything else! Here is a sample pic that I looked at for shape:

Mine are patterned so I’m not sure if they will have a label or anything, but they are fairly self explanatory, right?

The last (hopefully) project I am doing is the programs. I found this really pretty ivory cardstock and ordered a whole bunch of it – for the covers of the program, and I guess I will do plain ivory paper for the info inside as I think with the mass we will need more than 1 sheet. I’m totally lost as what to do for the programs- I like the tall look (kinda like the 4x9 invite) but if I make them square and do 6x6 size, I can get 2 out of each sheet of cardstock…Here are some example pics:

Any thoughts? As we don’t have anything finalized for the ceremony yet, I’m not too worried about these (yet!). They are lower on my do to list at this point anyways.



Wow this was much more lengthy than I thought…Sorry if I bored everyone- I just wanted to try to keep everyone updated and make sure everyone is in the loop and has all the info. One more thing I’m going to throw out there is if anyone has any connections for linens/chair covers- I am in need of some serious string pulling here!

And last but certainly not least, I want to thank each and every one of you for being there for me and for being a part of this experience! It wouldn’t be the same without you all with me! =)

As Nico would say:

Peace out yo-

Candice