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 pew cones - doiles and dollar tree flowers

just made 20 of these cute pew cones to adorn the lovely pews at the ceremony. simple to make too!

you'll need hot glue gun, card stock, 10inch paper doiles, grossgrain ribbon, and dollar store flowers

use card stock to make a cone for the foundation. i learned that this was better than just using the doily as is. made it more sturdy. you can use a plate as a template, to make the cone even.

then take one doily and center the cone. lightly glue to doily. be careful with this, i burned myself several times.

measure the ribbon your desired length, mine are 22 inches long. fold in half, and glue inside to the cardstock.

place your flowers inside and voila! it took me about an hour to make half of these. simple project that adds a nice bit of pizazz to your ceremony decor.

here are some pics of mine in action!

DIY wooden door monograms

This was probably one of the most simple and quick projects yet. got some inspiration from martha stewart, and picked up some wooden letters for cheap. just sand them if needed (i didn't lol), then stain or paint, hot glue ribbon to the back, and that's it! these will hang on either door of the entrance to the chapel

total cost <$4

How to: Long Distance Inspired Save The Dates

After much browsing thru martha stewart's many many save the date tutorials, and coming up empty handed and uninspired, I began just searching various websites for ideas. FH (future hubby) and i have always had a long distance relationship, at one point there was an ocean separating us! we wanted our save the dates to reflect that in some way. so while browsing for ideas i found this airmail inspired save the date:

we fell in love with the look of it! but putting brown packaging paper thru the printer seemed too daunting a task. so to make our save the date's, i used the blank business card template in microsoft excell and began typing away and editing our own save the date. i printed the envelope template from Ruffled Blog onto plain white copy paper and used elmer's glue sticks to stick together. here's our business sized card:

I used Publisher to make these, then printed envelopes like above. Sadly I sent them out before taking a pic, I'll upload one should I make more. My only regret is not making them more "save-able" per se. By laminating them or making them into a magnet or bookmark or something worth keeping. i love the simple design that hints at our travel theme. But I wish I'd made it more of a keepsake. Oh well, live and learn.

Cost:
Cardstock $4.72
White computer paper: $3

How To Leave Your Wedding In Style! - Rent A Car or Use Your Own

I'm still rather new to my current living area ;) Yay for a new job! So I've still been learning about the people I work with and those I go to church with. And thru some conversation, I discovered that one of the church members often attends car shows with her classic car. What color is her car? None other than deja blue! The color of my original wedding inspiration. Here it is:

The best part? The owner will be our chauffeur and drive us around for free! We'll be using it as a prop in some wedding pics too. What a great and classy wedding gift is that, huh?

So, if you're wondering how to find a great ride for your wedding day, start off by asking around. There's a pretty good possibility that a friend of a friend has an amazing car, and might be willing to loan it out (or drive you) for a few hours for free, or cheap. If that doesn't work out, try placing an ad on craigslist. Hundreds of possibilities can pop up with an honest ad placed in the proper category. Maybe someone is selling your dream car and would be up for a one day rental. They're trying to sell it after all, I'm sure they'd love a quick easy buck. Another option you may consider is to go with a company such as Enterprise rent a car, and just pick a nice new car. Be forewarned you can't tie pop cans or paint the windows. It has to be in pristine condition when returned, or you'll be nailed with extra costs. Trust me, I know!


Good luck on finding your dream ride for your wedding day!
~jenn

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!