January 28, 2011

DIY Friday!

I'm not too sure if I ever posted an official DIY day-- so don't mind that I keep posting "DIY Tuesday" or "DIY Friday".....

Anyway, today I did DIY. I followed the awesome tutorial at http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/12/pom-pom-bib-necklace-tutorial-lmm.html
to make my very own Pom Necklace.

It came out so well that my coworker wanted one too... so I made one for her, and a headband for her daughter while I was at it. Once you get a hang of how to make the poms--the project takes about 45 minutes to complete one necklace.

Here are the supplies you need:
Stiff Felt.. like the kind that Michael's has for $1.
Now here is what is important that I didn't do today: Get it in a corresponding color of your fabric Fabric
(scraps are fine.. check out the "fat quarters" at the fabric shop or any scrap that has at least a foot or so)
Scissors
Glue Gun
Necklace chain
 (I bought a 3 pack at Michael's for $3.50.. I didn't even realize it was a 3 pack when I bought it so it was a score)

Basically the tutorial says to "scrunch the fabric" but in reality you are really kind of folding it up in half and in half again just by grasping it from the middle (once you have the fabric in your hands this will make sense)

It's important to start from the center.

Something else they don't say is that you cut a circle of the felt and start gluing the fabric... but at the end a little felt still might be not covered. To cover it means that the circle will be lopsided (again, you will understand what I mean once you try it)... so instead of trying to squish the piece of fabric to make it work--just simply trim the felt.

I said to make sure you buy felt that matches your fabric because I used black felt and a gray/white fabric and it didn't go over well....You can kind of see the black.... not so noticeable to an "untrained " eye (lol!) but to me it was...so I would have been better to chose a cream or white felt.

That's it!

It's really very easy-- and cute-- and they are on sale at Urban for $35.00 and my version cost $3 a necklace

Happy DIYing! The pic of my result:

January 24, 2011

THE DETAILS...

Last night, TJ turned to me and out of no where said "what is going to make our wedding us?"....
Hm... wedding talk? From him?


"What do you mean"... I asked.


"Well, we went to all these weddings this summer and I only really remember one thing from each. One friend had sooo much food and her huge cake, another used Blue colors and made nice Table numbers- plus she had all the personalized stuff, another friend had bright colors, one made her own cake-- what's our "thing"...


Well quite honestly, I don't know if you know your thing when you head into your wedding. It's just the thing that sticks out with guests. It might be a killer DJ, a personalized matchbook, the color of your flowers, your cake topper. Really, I think its just in the details-- the details are what make it personalized, what makes it your wedding.


Here are some good examples of the "little details" that go a long way.
Reuse your girl's bouquets for some added decoration on an empy table at the reception.

Cute table numbers are super easy to DIY.


I love this. It would be a cute favor- or on a table at a "next day" brunch!

Cute details can even move into food. Guests would rave about these!

A Simple DIY sign adds just a touch!

January 19, 2011

Something Blue..Shoes

Trend of the year, maybe decade. Blue shoes as your something "blue". Personally, I might be rocking some blue lace hipsters-- who knows!

These are really adorable shoes though and offer some good photo ops for your photographer.



Check out these shoes- they are all on Zappos or Nordstrom.com. I always suggest Nordstrom for their unbelievably flexible return policy. So if you buy blue shoes now, and hate them next year before the wedding- you can swap em' out.

And if you are from the area I suggest a stop at Wrentham Village to the Off Sak's store-- the Badgley's below can sometimes be scooped up in White, Ivory, Blush or Blue for around $100 on sale. :)

RSVP heels-- on Zappos


These and Above shoes by Badgley Mischka @ Nordstrom

January 13, 2011

Dresses Cont'd

Have some issues with blogspot today but none the less wanted to continue on the discussion of dresses.

Onto the big guns. Here are some wedding dresses I am loving for myself right now:


Like more girls I love me some Vera Wang. Her collection is above, however, she is also coming out with a line for David's Bridal. It was already premiered on the Oprah show-- but the picture of the line are few and far between. They are similar to her line above, but parred down a bit and the selection of fabrics will obviously be different. She is still intending to use crepes, organza, and the tulle that she does from the same Shanghai suppliers that supply her more high-end fabrics....
Depending where you are from depends when you can spot these dresses in stores- although all are available online. Tons of stores are having a debut of the Vera Line on February 12th (you'll see me in line In North Attleboro, MA as they are a confirmed store debuting on the 12th). Check online for details! (As you can tell, I'm super excited, I've waited for these dresses since July!!)

Here are a few others I Love:

Tara Keley (Available at Helen's Bridal)
Provinas Spring 2011 Line- "Alison"
I'm obsessed with this dress since I spotted it at a bridal show

Michelle Roth

Dresses and more

When I was thinking of a topic today. I realized one thing I haven't hit on yet is dresses.

For one, the idea of a reception dress. For me, I feel like its more of an "after party dress", beacuse in all honesty for the money I am paying for my wedding dress-I want to spend as much time in it as possible..plus its a dress you will NEVER wear again... so live it up!

But I do like the idea of a late night dress as I'll call it--since I am planning on heading for a drink or two after my reception. For others who have a singificantly longer reception than I do, are ready to dance the night away, or perhaps just a really hot day- changing into a "Reception" dress is probably a good choice.

The ones below are all by Sue Wong and are available at Nordstrom. Most are around $400 except the ostrich feather which is around $500.







 

January 10, 2011

Wedding Props!!

Just wanted to give a big congrats to my friend and bridesmaid Miss Kate. She did an awesome article that ran in RI Monthly's bridal mag: Engaged!

It's a really great read for the budget minded and I think that's about every bride out there these days!
I happened to score my copy at this weekend's RI bridal expo-- but its in stores or you can  read an excerpt here:

Yay Kate!!
You can also read the whole article here: http://www.bluetoad.com/publication/?i=56496

January 4, 2011

Engagement Photo Session

Last year we kinda sorta decided we would likely want our engagement photos to be done in the fall.. since we are getting married in the summer it would be a different look-- and we have an awesome back drop right in our own back yard. Tons of "fields" for those "field" shots popping up on all photographers blogs....a quaint little rustic looking white shed, a bridge for us to take those "holding hands on the bridge shots"... but I was quick to tell any photographer I met "NO CHEESY SHOTS!" ..... to which every photog replied, "just like every other bride tells us"...

So since we are all in agreement... no cheese ball shots (IE staring into each others eyes while waves crash and birds chirp!) and we all want something a "little different" I thought I'd post the pictures that inspired me for the look I want... (and a few others that I just plain LOVE!)

I'll call this first group the "plain clothes" group. I love these shots and want to incorporate some in my own shoot... all credits to these photographers per their photos:



This would be perfect for our back by the River where we live!


See you can include your dog and not be too cheese central...how cute!


I like the light on these pictures, and have seen some great wedding day ones with the same lighting...

Now onto my favorites!!! These are my absolute favs and if I could convince my fiance to do this I would. I Love love love love heart them xo. Enjoy:

Super vintage!!


My all time, favorite engagement shot ever.
  So I included these next ones because it is something I would never do.. but came out amazing. They are the Notebook inspired.. maybe its because the girl looks a lot like Rachel McAdams-- but these came out great!



How great is this?
Just one more i had to add that i found tonight and l-o-v-e:


January 3, 2011

Banner Love- This week's DIY

This week's DIY is actually something I am going to throw together real soon. As soon as I get my hands on some burlap and string to do so.


I absolutely love these banners and while I think they are adorable for weddings- I also think they will look great used on our engagement shoot (see tomorrow for more engagement shoot inspiration).

You can grab these for around $20 on Etsy, but the entire thing would cost you under $5 to make-- and a little patience and a rainy/snowy winter afternoon....


Basically you need:
Burlap (tan or white (if you can find white-- I've had no success)
Felt or Fabric Scraps
Large knitting thread and knitting needle
Large Grosgrain or other type of sturdy ribbon (about 2 yards depending on the length of your banner)

Once I do it I will put in a full tutorial. But It basically goes like this:
  • Cut the burlap into enough triangles or squares as your need.
  • Sew on some fabric cut into a square, heart, circle, whatever
  •  With the knitting thread (if you want it to have a contrasting effect pick a lighter or darker thread: I like the look of the red fabric and white stitching).
  • Hand sew the fabric on.
  • Cut out the letters in felt, Glue gun em' on.
  • Use a fabric pen to jazz it up.
  • Take the whole thing and glue it to the ribbon.


I know,that sounds easy right? Well, it is. It might not be 100% at the quality of the Etsy sellers.. .well I'll be honest its not. But I guarantee it will look cute and hold up long enough for you to use it in wedding photos, hang it on a doorway, on a fence, or on the back of your car.... and serve its purpose :)

I'll post pics once I get going!!

Wedding Savings: Ordering from Wholesalers

I promised some budget tips along the way, so here's a big one I've learned: Order Wholesale.


When I think of wholesale I think of huge packs of cereal, but think about it with 100+ guests you are a wholesale contender.


There are an abundance of stateside shops online like Save-on-Crafts, but there is also the ability to reach out and hit up our overseas friends. One big giant: MadeinChina.com. You can find everything on there from paper fans and tins to pack favors in-- to.. .wait for it... wedding dresses! If you are more daring than I am, consider ordering a wedding dress. They have the same styles as the big chains-- for a fraction of the price. In fact, many of the companies overseas are the ones producing the dresses for the big "name" wedding dress companies-- so you might be getting a dress that is from their very order!


One hint: Watch for price breaks. When ordering wholesale you're likely to get a price break at a certain quantity. So if you have 125 guests and you want to order 125 items-- price out ordering 150-- it may be cheaper since you hit the next price tier.


Happy Bargain hunting!