Look what my mom brought me!

my mom & dad stopped by for a visit a few weekends ago, thought i'd share what all they brought :)

these roses are fake, but are so full and gorgeous! the vases were bought at various thrift stores for less than $1 each. these will be placed all over the chapel to spruce it up. then will be brought up to various tables in the reception area. we're going to fill the vases with clear glass flat backed marbles.

such a cool piece of luggage. this baby came from hobby lobby. i'll prop it open and use it for the guestbook table at the reception. guests will sign a luggage tag then place it in the case. i think it was $10. one of the more expensive buys, but oh so perfect!

for our cake cutting table! $4. might get them engraved, not sure yet

these are fancy glasses for the wedding party. 7.99 plus half off coupon = a steal!

got some more christmas lights, thanks to walmart clearance section! 75 cents each

yay! an archway! i can't wait to cover this in flowers and dangle a few small candles by pearl strands or something. and that is my freshly painted toe :) $14

Thrift Store Finds For Wedding Decorations

Look what i found!

these cute little crates were 49 cents each. i'm thinking they'll look good with piece of fabric laid in them, and then used to hold forks, knives, spoons at the buffet table.

DIY Ring Bearer Signs c/o Martha Stewart

Martha had these templates on her site, thought i'd whip some signs up quick. the idea is that at the proper moments, the ring bearer will hold up the corresponding sign, for a kodak moment ;) and just for the sake of cuteness! i'm not so sure of my color selection. and i need to tie on a little ribbon or something.

Using Christmas Lights At Wedding Reception

i'm really looking into using the gads of christmas lights i have access to for our wedding reception. here are some inspiration photos i like thus far...

the second one is my fav. if i could do exactly that... wow. it'd be fantastic. what do you think? did or would you use christmas lights at your wedding reception? why or why not?

DIY Bride & Groom Signs

my mom messaged me this cute pic idea she'd like us to do. she's just as crafty creative as i am. maybe more ;)

so i headed over to my favorite wedding resource http://www.theweddingchicks.com/ and checked out their printable section. and voila! my signs

i love free templates! and the cool thing about the wedding chicks, is that you can select your wedding colors, and it will generate for you!

DIY Self Catering for wedding reception

I've discovered one more thing to enable us to better self cater our own wedding reception. Look what walmart has for $10!

diy mustache on a stick photo booth prop for reception

I thought these mustaches were so cute, i decided to try making my own.

You will need:
sculpey or fimo clay
acrylic paint
paintbrushes
sticks
hot glue

shape or cut out your pieces and bake. then paint to suit

use hot glue to attache stick. i did all mine as for right handers, so consider mixing it up. I will on my second batch

and here's the finished product!

and here is bryan playing around with one lol

DIY uplighting for wedding reception

i've been combing thru google search after google search for ideas and tutorials on diy uplighting for a reception. and it just seems like it cost so so much to accomplish it. well, on a whim, i visited home depot. and look what i found!

 red bulbs for $1.98 and lamps for $6.47

 and get a load of this baby! a mini uplight for $11.97! the bulbs cost 3/$9.99 or $7.99 for a high powered

 and here is how it looks with the lights out at 7 o'clock on location.

I got 4 red and 4 white lights now, for a grand total of $105. I need some stands of some sort to angle the red ones, and extension cords to set them up just right. but i think it looks great. and another point, is that i can rent them out to other brides in my area via craigslist. plust it's another resource for my youth ministry. i'm sure we can use the lights for plays or something.
what do you think? will this be bright enough for when the sun sets? i really don't want to use the overhead lighting at all. i'll also have candles on all tables and christmas lights in various places. i'm hoping photos turn out good

DIY Photo Booth for reception

Photo booths seem to be the new trend for wedding receptions. But renting one can be really costly. I've seen booth rentals for anywhere between $250 to $2000. Neither is in my price range. So I set out to create my own photo booth and really slash costs. I'm sharing my ideas & how to's with you to help you keep under budget.

How to make a DIY photo booth:

First, you'll need to choose an area to designate for your photo booth. Consider an out of the way place. Maybe a corner, closet, unused room etc. We'll be using a back unused hallway.

Next you'll need something capable of taking your photos, of course! You can use a a laptop w/ a webcam, a camera with a photo printer, or a polaroid instant camera. Make sure you have adequate supplies for printing lots of pictures. If you choose to use your laptop, you'll need a good software to simplify the process. Here are some: Sparkbooth $59, Open Photo Booth $0, cameroid $0, seenly $0, Snap $0, MugShot Maching $0.

To make your photo booth fun add in some props that go with your theme. Since our's is vintage, well be using mustaches on a stick, feather boas, and bowler hats. I'll post a DIY soon on making your own mustache on a stick!

The next thing isn't really necessary, but helps your photo booth look more... put together. It's a backdrop! It can be as simple as a spring loaded curtain rod with a couple different colored shower curtains, so your guests can easily switch backdrops. Or you can use a large painting/picture hung on the wall. Or fabric hung on the wall or from a shower curtain etc.

After the reception, if you use your laptop or a digital camera, you will have all the photos stored on a memory card for use in your wedding photo album, without photographer fees! And if you do have a professional photographer, they might even edit your photo booth photos as well.

One more little touch to add to your photo booth is a personalized sign directing guests where to go. Wedding Chicks has one you can print yourself easy, here.

DIY Fancy Guestbook Pens & Postcard Table Numbers

Keeping with the travel themed wedding, I made our table numbers today. I looked into buying vintage postcards on ebay, but why pay for something you can make quick yourself? I found the images I wanted on ebay, plugged them into a postcard template, and started printing and cutting. I embossed a number on the back of every card, and i'll eventually hand write a little blip about each country. Then i used a knife to slice the end of each cork about half an inch, then popped in the postcard. these table numbers will correspond with the seating chart, that i haven't made yet.

These fancy pens will be used with our non traditional guestbook, the well wishes tree. I just wanted to have something a little extra. so i covered each pen in goop glue, then rolled in seed beads. Easy as pie, and they add an extra sparkle.

How to save money on food & drinks at the wedding reception

When considering catering options for the reception, my eyes bugged out. I couldn't believe estimates of us as much as $25 per head. that'd be several thousand to feed our entire guest list! definitely out of budget for my $2k wedding day. we haven't set in stone yet what we're doing, but here are a few tips to save money on food and drinks at your wedding recepiton:
1. serve a signature drink. instead of having a full service bar with the full service price tag, consider serving one or two specialty drinks. possibly bride & groom's personal favorite.
2. use in season fruit & vegetables. it'll be cheaper & taste fresher!
3. order a moderately priced plain wedding cake, then go over the top with your own wedding topper. you could even make your own cake topper!