Ok, I’ll just put it out there….I LOVE MY INVITATIONS!!!!!! And obviously, am so excited about them! A friend of mine did a stellar job designing them. She is insanely talented. Now, I have friends/family who read these so I don’t want to put everything out there but here is a little sample of the great work that she has done. My vision was that I wanted it to look like it was hand-painted on there. I want lots of flowers and color—and she did exactly that! Here is a sneak peak:

A sneak peak of our invitations! Aren't they pretty?!

We are working on our enclosure cards now. Once those are done, I will be ordering using cardsandpockets.com, one of the best wedding websites out there. Not only are they inexpensive, the quality is high, the samples ship free, and the customer service is excellent. I emailed their print shop a question over the Thanksgiving holiday and she responded that day! I decided to go the semi-DIY route to save some money. Plus, I’m crafty and have crafty bridesmaids so with some help we can put them all together! I’m so excited to be working with them and can’t wait to see how they turn out! I’ll keep you posted!

That’s right, girls! I have a wedding dress! I just cannot believe it.

I wasn’t originally planning on going wedding dress shopping so soon. In fact, I wanted to put it off as long as possible. You see, the very idea of trying to organize this big outing with all of my bridesmaids and mother in tow so I could parade about in different dresses stressed me out to the max! And after watching so many wedding shows, I thought that was how it was just supposed to be. I am beyond delighted to report that my experience was not the least bit stressful!

Grandmother Dandelion was in town and because I don’t get to see her often, I really wanted to do something wedding related while she was staying with us. The original plan was to take her to tour the venue with us. However, the venue wasn’t open for touring because of an event so that was out. At home just a few days ago, I was watching “Four Weddings” with my mom and grandmother. Dandelion Mom brought up the idea of going wedding dress shopping the next morning. At first I was totally against it because it gave me such anxiety. But, I really did want to do something for my grandmother and I knew she would love to see me trying on the different gowns. So I agreed. And after sending my M.O.H. a quick text asking if it was okay if I somehow by the grace of God found The Dress without her, we went to a bridal shop called Azalea Bridal & Formal located in Snellville, GA. I just canNOT recommend this shop enough! I had gone wedding dress browsing before and it was not fun; the store was super uptight (to the point that I was not allowed to touch the gowns and the employees had to dress me with my arms stuck out to the sides) and I left feeling incredibly discouraged at the prospect of ever finding a gown that both spoke to my style of traditional & unique AND within my tight-tight budget.

My wedding dress good luck charm!

My experience with Azalea (http://azaleabridal.com/) was so polar opposite! First of all, ALL of their gowns are in the $300-$1500 price range. This was a huge deal to me because some places considered “budget bridal” to be $1500+! Second, there were SO many styles to choose from. I’m certain brides of all different kinds of personalities and tastes would be able to find something that suited them. They were also incredibly laid-back. They knew exactly when to help me and offer their opinion and when to step back and let me browse by myself. They were so kind and I look forward to when I can go back for my fitting in about 14 weeks! And can I just say how fabulous it was to receive a 15% off coupon valid for ANYTHING IN THE STORE? Wow.

And so, I found my dress at this gem of a bridal shop. I have pictures of me in the sample size, but I’d rather wait until my fitting to post pictures of me in the gown. And no worries, I’ve kept this blog a secret from Mr. Lion for this very reason. But, here is a photo from the same designer (Eden Bridal).

This was my runner-up dress.

You wouldn’t believe that the dress only cost $950! (Less with the coupon!) They just look so much more expensive than that. My maid of honor almost asked me how I was able to afford such a dress on my budget! I had a great time trying on all the dresses. And I just loved having only my mother and grandmother there. I adore my bridesmaids, but it made the experience so low-key just like I wanted.

Who accompanied you when you found your wedding gown? Did anyone find their dress by themselves (like my mom!)?

Hello there garden! I’m one of the newest bloggers here on BridalBuds and I’m so excited to document my experience and trade ideas with you guys. Let’s start off with just a little bit about me and my fiance:

Mr. Lion and I!

(not the best photo, but the only one I could find on this computer!)

Well Mr. Lion and I will have been together for five years next month!  I was 16 and he was 19 when we met, and we are now 21 and 25 respectively. For the bulk of our relationship it’s been semi-long distance, since we attended different high schools and colleges. Mr. Lion graduated with an accounting degree and now works in the accounts payable department of a third-party logistics company (yeah, I don’t really know what that means either…). I’m currently in my senior year of college, studying art and set to graduate in December 2012. I’m a photographer, running my own portraiture and wedding photography business (www.rachelkathrynphotography.com). Mr. Lion is a self-taught guitar player and pretty incredible, if I do say so myself!

We’re having a long engagement. And I mean long. Two and a half years to be precise. This month will be our “one year engagement” anniversary, and we’re planning the wedding for April 2013. This caused a lot of raised eyebrows and comments about how you’re SUPPOSED to do things, but its just what works for us. Since the beginning we knew our education came first and so it was really important to us that I earn my degree before we got hitched. While I would give anything to go ahead and be married tomorrow, I’ve definitely enjoyed the perks of a long engagement. One of which is getting to just relax and enjoy being engaged for awhile! Now that we are a year and a half away from the wedding, we are really starting the process of planning and it’s been both fun and nerve-wracking.

Mr. Lion and I are on a tight budget. What with our student loans, we don’t want to start our lives together more in debt than we need to be. Our budget is set at $6,000. Now, I’ve seen beautiful weddings that cost more and less than this, so I know it is more than possible. I’m trying to look at it as a challenge; “Champagne taste on a beer budget” is a motto of sorts for me. We don’t have a lot of money to spend so we’re just going to have to spend it wisely!

That’s enough rambling on my end. Looking forward to reading and posting!

Anyone else with a long engagement? Why did you decide to have a long engagement?

MMMMMM CAKE TASTING.

I basically could leave it at that… but it makes for a boring read.

The venue we are having the wedding at has their own pastry chef, but unless they’re doing a wedding they aren’t baking cakes, so they don’t do a tasting. I’ll give them that it’s probably a good cake. But how can I know which of the many flavors I want to choose if I’m not sure what they end up doing best? However, our venue does offer one great option. They’ve partnered with a cake shop down in the valley (because our venue is up at a ski resort) And with this particular baker they don’t charge a plating or cutting fee. (Yeah–look out for that charge, and find out if they partner with someone to avoid that fee). So, we opted to use their out of house cake vendor, as she does cake tastings ,a bit more for the decor, and we avoid the plating fee. She plans all of her cake tastings for Tuesdays so that she has fresh cupcakes for tasting once per week and can do one big batch.

So, we came in and looked at pictures and planned a bunch of things with our cake. And for the ENTIRE time that we were planning there were two plates each of eight delicious looking cupcakes covered with delicious looking butter cream frosting.

So we still don’t get to taste yet, we talked about decor and cake set up.

Instead of having a big tiered wedding cake we’re having an eclectic set of cakes on different stands and different flavors. And we set it up in foam to see how it would look and feel.

However, there’s certainly not enough cake there for us to feed the whole party. So we’ll have a couple of cakes in the back that are frosted, cut and ready to eat when we cut the cake. It’s also cheaper to have a cake that’s in the back than up front it turns out, even if there is some amount of the same decor. And will make it so that your cake gets out faster to your guests. It’s a good way to save, and a way to make the ‘show’ cake really special if you’re on a tight budget.

(still no cake tasting)

Finally after discussing decor a bit more we were finally allowed to taste the cake flavors. To my excitement there were no strawberry and banana flavors, which meant i got to eat all 8 delicious looking pieces. (As I am sadly allergic to these things) I was so excited for the cake that I forgot to take a picture. The eight flavors were: vanilla, chocolate, orange, raspberry almond, lemon, coconut, red velvet and carrot cake. The red velvet and carrot cake have a cream cheese frosting. and the Lemon has a lemon-butter-cream frosting. The rest are just plain butter cream..

My favorite was the lemon cake with lemon butter cream frosting. Love it. However we choose to go with three flavors and split them up kind of 30% 40& and 20% with Lemon, Red Velvet, and Vanilla respectively. Mr. Daisy is generally a chocolate man. (hence the Red Velvet) and I am a vanilla cake with butter cream frosting, or a yellow cake type– but lately i’ve been on a lemon kick. I like a bit of citrus to break up the sweet.

Frosting… Now, I’m a big fan of Ace of cakes and all that cakey television fun. However, I’m a HUGE fan of eating butter cream frosting and not eating fondant. Seriously. She does do fondant but I more or less told Mr. Daisy that I didn’t care how it looks, I want a real cake with real frosting, besides we’re going with a vintage-lite wedding anyway, ditch the modern frosting. SO on her butter cream she uses only real butter, no shortening. So it’s a creamy color, instead of white white, so if you want white she simply has to add white food coloring ( I didn’t know that existed.). However I like the cream/antique white look anyway, but she mentioned it, and it might be something to keep an eye out for if you’re looking for a real white cake with out the fondant frosting.

I do wish we had scheduled more time for the consult. We were there about an hour and Mr. Daisy had to head off to work, but an hour and a half would have been much better and have included more wiggle room, and more time to relax instead of feeling like we had to get business done.

I now have a serious sugar craving again–Gotta love the cake!

Poppy Dude and I are very much in love with the simple rural surrounding that we were raised in. It was important that our wedding really reflect those values. I wanted to find a way to get Poppy Dude really excited about the wedding planning process because I know sometimes the groom just smiles and says “whatever you want, honey!” when it comes to picking and choosing wedding details. I had an idea that fit the ticket for both wishes – a touch of country.

Poppy Dude is a “country boy” when it comes down to it. He was raised on his family’s farm/ranch where three generations of men come together to make the operation a success.

When researching and coming up with ideas for centerpieces – it struck me. What’s yellow and plays a huge part in our agriculturally centered lives? Corn and Wheat. I ran my idea by Poppy Dude and his eyes lit up. We decided to incorporate corn and wheat grown right on the Poppy Dude family farm. Corn would be easy to get – Poppy Dude’s family has some stored in bins on the yard. The wheat on the other hand only presented a certain window of time for cutting at the perfect golden color. That’s usually around the 4th of July here in south-central Nebraska, but because it’s been so wet this year it was a little later – even better for us!

Poppy Dude hand cut the wheat from the field while I bundled it. It then needed to hang to continue to dry.I then sprayed it with a clear coat of matte acrylic spray sealant (to ensure that the seeds don’t shatter out all over the tables – or worse before the wedding) So far they are holding up beautifully! Here’s a look at what we’ve done with our natural resources:

moodl lighting

centerpiece: mason jar with wheat & corn

I was so tore about what to do for our unity candle. I didn’t want to spend $$ for a candle that, although very symbolic, was only going to be lit for a few minutes. To add to that, I had no idea how to make this project DIY. Numerous times had I looked up ideas online, but nothing really caught my eye. Then the other day when I was writing a post about making my wedding stationary and continuing the same fonts and decorative elements throughout all my wedding items it hit me like a ton of bricks. Use the items that you’ve already picked out because you like them so much! In a matter of seconds I had a design to place on the plain ivory candles I had purchased. Here’s the finished product:

unity candle

details

This was a seriously cheap DIY wedding project – here’s the breakdown.

• Ivory pillar candle – $4, on sale for $2
• 2 ivory taper candles – $0.99 each, on sale for $0.99 for the pair
• glass candlestick – $7.99, sale for $3.99
• 2 glass candlesticks -$5.99 each, on sale for $5.99 for the pair
• 1 sheet vellum – free, on hand
• 8 pearl sewing pins – free, on hand
• ribbon – free, left over from other wedding projects

That comes to a grand total of $12.97. A purchased unity candle designs costs $20 and up, that’s not including the stands…which can run another $20. Do I even need to do the math? I will anyway…that’s at least a $27.03 savings! And better yet, it matches EVERYTHING I’ve already done!

Or stocking the bar rather.

There are many different types of wedding bar options ranging from dry weddings to full open bar options. Ours is somewhere in the middle. All sorts of soft drinks as well as beer are provided by our hall. However the bartender will serve anything else that we provide, so we set to the task of stocking the bar.

{Image from: chiqweddings.com}

To save some on the booze, we visited a local bulk-shopping club to find some of our stash at better prices. There we found our wines, champagne and a couple of pre-mixed cocktails (we opted not to provide tequila so margaritas will still be available this way).

We made sure to tell everyone who gave us weird looks that we were stocking the wedding reception bar, we really aren’t alcoholics!

Our bulk-shopping club didn’t have our various liquor needs, so we ended up at a state liquor agency to find the rest. We wanted some of the more common ingredients in cocktails so we decided to provide rum and vodka as well.

Since I hate going to places that don’t have bar menus, our wedding reception will have one. (Well it will actually be called a beverage list) Being my creative self, I’ll list the normal beverages first, then the ready-made options and finally the additional alcohol choices and some cocktail suggestions. This will go in a picture frame on the bar so that the beverage options are clear.

What would be your must-haves if you were stocking your own reception bar?

Let’s be honest! It is expensive to be a bridesmaid or a groomsman in a wedding! Because of the cost & the stressful moments our wedding party will endure, I want to make sure we get them the best gifts ever!

Poinsettia Dude & I have thought long and hard and we finally have the gifts for half of the wedding party figured out.    We plan on getting the guys some items to finish off their wedding day look – 1. skinny black tie 2. Black watch  & 3. Black Chuck Taylors

The Perfect Gift: Groomsmen by wiredbride featuring black flat shoes

Converse black flat shoes
$45 - footnotesonline.com

What do you think of these gifts? What are you getting your wedding party?

We just mailed out our invitations at the 6 week mark and let me tell you, paying postage sucks. We seriously spent $20 more on postage than we did on our invitation and that includes  not stamping 50% of our response cards and hand delivering the invites to our college friends who won’t be at their homes.

Wait! The Lilacs didn’t stamp response cards? What a wedding sin!

{from usps.com}

We are managing our RSVPs online so we went through our guest list and marked how many stamps we needed for each invitation. For mailed invitations with unstamped response cards we only had to pay 44 cents in postage. For the stamped response cards it came  to 88 cents per invitation. And our hand delivered ones were free of postage!

The people who regularly use the internet and who we believed would not be hung up on tradition received response cards with my email, our online RSVP and and envelope if they really wanted to mail it. Everyone else did get stamped response cards.

I did get a note from my sister (who is IN the wedding) informing me that I should have stamped the response cards and she would mail it anyway. I really hope she RSVPs yes!

Weddings must be what’s keeping the Post Office in business! It’s really hard to trim budgets there, but we did!

Here’s another idea that I had with the heart stick props.  This one, you can do so much more to make it more personalized.  Since the hearts are chalk friendly, you can write anything your hearts desire.  You can use these chalkboard hearts for your photo booth, engagement session, save the dates, or just for fun!  It’s an easy DIY project to do and budget friendly.  =)

Chalkboard Paint

Glue Gun

Large Popsicle Sticks

Pre-Cut Large Wooden Hearts

The other day while I was getting more supplies for my wedding invitations, I came across these really cute red hearts.  I thought, why not just play around with them and make something fun!  So I went back home, thought of an idea…and walaa…I made hearts on stick that can be used for engagement shoots, DIY photo booth, or you can even make a whole bunch for your guests as fun favors!

They’re super easy to make, not time consuming, and most of all…budget friendly:

Optional #4: Put more glue on other side of Large Popsicle Stick

Optional #5: Stick other heart on back.

Fini!

Other options: You can write something on it, leave it blank, or do whatever you want!

After countless days of trying to figure out a great package for our honeymoon and contacting travel agents…I finally booked our honeymoon.

{Allure of the Seas}

We have decided to go on a 7 day cruise to the Caribbeans on the newest and BIGGEST ship in the world called Allure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean).  My aunt told me that this was the most fun cruise she’s ever been on.  She told me it has the best entertainment and activities.  Even if you have to be stuck on the ship for all 7 days, there’s so much stuff to do that you won’t be bored!  Lol…so guess what I’m excited for the most?  Well, other then spending time with my future hubby.  I’m stoked about going on the giant water slide that starts from half of the ship to the front!!  =)  I’ll probably be the only adult in line amongst a whole bunch of kids anxiously trying to go on the slide.  And if those kids try to butt in front of me, they won’t hear the end of it!  JK of course.

Why a Cruise?
Even though it would be nice to stay in a nice hotel on the sandy beaches of Hawaii (which was our other option), I think we would get bored after a while.  We’re not the type that just can sit and relax all day.  Plus, I don’t want the hassle of planning excursions and contacting different people to see which one has a reasonable cost.  Not only that, your meal is covered on the cruise, there’s entertainment, on board activities, and if you’re a social butterfly…you’ll always get a chance to meet someone new.  =)  With the cruise, it has everything you need on one ship.  The crew pretty much plans everything for you…which is very nice after planning a wedding.  Furthermore, going on a cruise may be cheaper then going for a 7 day trip at a luxurious hotel.

Click Here for more info about the Allure of the Seas

Shop Around: Before booking your cruise, make sure to shop around.  Call up different agents to see what prices they can get you and other special deals they could offer.  Other great traveling websites you should check out is travelocity and expedia.

This blog is dedicated to all the UK followers!  =)  I recently found this UK online clothing store that can sell across the whole world.  Of course, with some extra shipping costs.  Even though if you do buy the dresses from the US, the dresses are probably still cheaper then getting it at a regular bridal salon.  All the dresses are under $50 at Dorothy Perkins.  There’s such a wide selection of dresses that could be potentially for your lovely bridesmaids.  All dresses from Dorothy Perkins.

Taupe One Shoulder Dress: £24.00

Peach Crochet Trim Dress:  £27.00

Multi Floral Sleeveless Dress: £24.00

Chocolate Ruffle Bandeau Dress: £27.00

Cream Scallop Beaded Dress: £24.00

Silver Ruffle Shoulder Dress: £29.00

All Dresses from Dorothy Perkins

My RSVPs are starting to trickle in… and you know what I hear most often from guests about our invitations? “The writing on the envelope is so elegant!” … “I just knew when I saw the calligraphy that something special was inside”, and even “it was so nice to see our names written in such a pretty handwriting amongst all the bills that arrive daily!”  Just goes to show, my $1 per envelope calligraphy investment? Totally worth every penny.

My amazing calligrapher, Kristen, e-mailed me today with her mission. She wants to have the chance to have worked with brides in every state of the USA by the end of 2011. There are 30 states she hasn’t done calligraphy for yet — and so she’s offering to do calligraphy for those brides for free.

See the details here … and just send her an Etsy message to fix it all up. I can’t praise Kristen highly enough for her gorgeous work and attention to detail.

Please let me know if you end up doing this — and spread the word! Every bride deserves pretty envelopes, even ones on a budget

Are you like me where you’re either afraid of going to the dentist, too lazy to get real teeth whitening, and just don’t want to pay for it if you don’t have to?  About a month ago, I got my yearly teeth cleaning and I asked my hygienist for non-professional teeth whitening options.  She recommended the Crest 3d White Strips.  Guess what I did the very next day?  That’s right, I got the Professional Effects 3d White Strips (Pictured on the left).

Results: Out of a scale from 1-5 (1 being no effects to 5 my teeth are blinding white!), my rate would be a 2.5 out of 5.  It wasn’t as white as I wanted it to be, but it did have SOME effect.   I thought about posting up pictures of my teeth, but I don’t want to gross you out!  =P

Would I Recommend this Product?
Not really.  I spent about $45 on it and the results weren’t what I wanted.  I thought about returning it to the manufacturer and getting my money back, but I just thought it was too much of a hassle.

What REALLY worked for me:

After the disappointment with the crest whitening strips, I decided to do a little research on other non-professional teeth whitening options.  I remember reading an article about the Crest Whitening toothpaste and it was the top rated one.  SO I went to the supermarket and got the Crest 3D White Vivid Toothpaste (pictured on the right).  I got mines on sale so I ended up spending about $5 for it.  Yay for deals!

Results:
After about using this for a month, my rating would be a 4 out of 5.  It was a pretty significant difference from the very beginning for me.  In the reviews it said that the Crest 3D whitening toothpaste worked the best; even though it took longer for the effects to come in.

Now I have a beautiful white smile!

Poinsettia Dude & I have lived together for almost 3 years, which means that we are not in need of the typical registry items such as towels, sheets, pillows, silverware, dinnerware, etc.  Because we don’t really ‘need’ anything, it makes it difficult to set up a registry!  What do you give a couple who has everything?  Money! But of course, it is tacky and rude to ask for money…everyone knows that!  So we registered for the next best thing!  Our Honeymoon!

We found a honeymoon registry called HoneyFund!  I set up an account and designated gift contributions so guest can easily see what their cash contributions will go towards.  Instead of handing over $50 in a card, they would choose to pay for a portion of our flights or an excursion or anything else they wanted to help with.

Here is a sample of the “registry”:

(Source: honeyfund.com)

We have friends who used Honeyfund last summer and the contributions almost paid for their entire 10 day Costa Rican vacation! I secretly hope that our honeymoon registry will also be a success!

Our Save the Dates were emailed out and were a huge hit!  Poinsettia Dude & I worked for months on a stop-motion video to send to our guests.   To see our finished product,  Click Here!

We decided to send a funny card from someecards.com to all of our invited guests.  When they received the e-card, this is what they saw-

Within the e-card, we typed up a sweet message asking our guests to save the date for our wedding!  We then inserted a link to our Stop Motion video that we had posted to YouTube and included the link to our personal wedding website.

Although not for everyone, our guests loved it!  And would you believe our movie got 540+ views on YouTube! Not bad considering we are only having 80-90 guests!

Ooo another great online store that I found that has a lot of great bridesmaid potential dresses!  It’s a lot like ModCloth but even cheaper!  Almost 90% of the dresses are under $50.  Another great find!

Store: RUCHE

something to smile about lacy one shoulder tunic $42.99

citrusy sweet blossoms applique dress $36.99

charmingly endearing royal blue ruffle dress $35.99

victorian romance draped dress $42.99

posh & circumstance bow dress $48.99

cocoa couture pocket dress $34.99

emerald cascades one shoulder dress $49.99

ruffled rosey fantasy dress in lavender $44.99

country beauty belted dress $39.99

enchanting lady strapless dress in brown $45.99

I don’t know about you, but I love it when couples incorporate anything with chalkboards into their weddings.  So I decided to give it a shot and design my own frame chalkboards.  I originally designed it to be used as favors, but we shall see.  I decided to go with all different sizes of wooden frames just to see how it would turn out.  Luckily, each frame was $1 at Michaels each!  Here are the results…

Here’s the final product with my magnet felt corgi’s I made a while back.

Directions on How to Make Chalkboard Magnet Frames:

Directions:

2. Cut about 1″ of the magnet tape, peel, and stick.

Fini!

Frames: Each were $1

Krylon Spray Paint: $7.50

I just bought a pair of dyeable shoes for the wedding on Shoebuy.com. I like their website because it actually tells you the height of the heel in inches, not just “high” or  “mid”. They also offer free (ground) shipping in BOTH directions, so if they don’t fit you can exchange for the right size.

Right now they’re also doing their 20% off Winter Sale (SAVE20) and if you’re a member (as in you register at check out) you receive another 10% off. AND, here’s a link for 10$ off. 10$ off a pair of shoes at Shoebuy.com

Here’s the shoes I bought: (Touch Ups Abby)

What I was looking for in a shoe:

Truth be told this is the shoe I want… I am actually IN LOVE with these shoes, but i don’t think i’ll be finding them. As I discovered bridalbuds when i stumbled across these shoes on someone else’s blog. (P.S. these adorable green shoes are still available in black from Nordstroms for 60$ they are the “Sonja BP. Pump”. I may  have to have them anyway.)

However, the bare facts of what in a shoe are:

• wearable, for all or most of the event– meaning 1 1/2 inch heel or lower
• fairly simple
• something unique, (or, the ability to add to make unique)
• green or dyeable
• something i’d want to wear after the wedding
• less than $150

The shoes above cover all that, and the price was even better. Originally 51, 20% off promo = -10.29, 10% member discount= -4.12 = GRAND TOTAL: 37.04!! And did I mention free shipping both ways! (Sorry, I’m a bit excited about the shoes right now.)

They don’t look like much now, but once they’re dyed and dressed up with a vintage shoe clip and maybe a bow (like the pretty green pictured shoes) they’ll be pretty unique. I plan on using a pair of shoe clips off of my grandma’s prom shoes (totally cool!).  Mama Daisy and I will be dying them to match in the next month or so, after we’ve gone fabric shopping for the rest of the wedding. A post, with instructions and before/after photos to come!

Yes, it is here!  The Vera Wang David’s Bridal Collection has just come out this month.  These dresses are absolutely stunning.  Not only are they stunning, but they’re affordable!  Most of Vera Wang’s Dresses cost around $5000-$10,000+.  At David’s Bridal, the Vera Wang collection ranges from $600-$1400.  They’re more on the modern chic side with a touch of the vintage look.  If you love lots of layers and tulle, you’ll love this new line. Sooo beautiful.  drool…

One Shoulder Gown with Asymmetrial Draped Skirt

Soft Net Gown with Delicately Draped Bodice

One Shoulder Structured Fit and Flare Gown

Satin Faced Organza Ball gown with Corsage Detail

If you know me, I absolutely love anything vintage!  I was shopping at Anthropologie one day and I discovered this vintage glass (listed below).  I fell in love with the design and I knew I had to get something like this for all the guest tables.  Unfortunately, I’m probably having 30+ guest tables and I don’t want to be spending $6 for each glass.  I found ones from Pier 1 for under a dollar, but I’m not too crazy about the design.

Do you have any suggestions where I can find each for $1 or less?

Anthropologie: $6.00

Pier 1: On Sale for $0.98 each

My Attempt to do a Wedding Veil

“Back in the day,” when I was trying on wedding dresses, I discovered how ridiculously expensive wedding veils were.  The typical cost of a 2 tiered wedding veil is $150-$500.  You probably can get a super cheap wedding dress for that cost!

Well, to save a couple hundred dollars, I decided to make my own wedding veil.  Overall, it only required some basic sewing skills.  I didn’t even create the veil from scratch!  I got a pre-maid two tiered veil from Joanns Fabric Store.  It was a lot simpler then I thought it would be.

Wedding Veil

Veil from Joanns

This is the two-tiered pre-made veil that I got at Joanns.  You can purchase this pre-made veil at any craft store.  It includes the veil and comb.  Also, on the back it tells you directions on how to attach the comb, hair band, or whatever you’re using to the veil.   (A lot of times, Joanns and Michaels have 40-50% off coupons.  You can search for Michaels coupons online or sign up for the newsletters at Joanns)  Original price for this is $14.99.

Quick Dry Tacky Glue

Type of Glue to Use If you want to add embellishments like pearls, rhinestones, etc., you should use this glue.  Before putting the lace on, I put on pearls to embellish the sides.  It usually took about 5 seconds for the pearl to stick onto the veil with just a dab of glue.

Sewing Tools

1.Scissors- use scissors that you ONLY use for fabric.  If you use these scissors for paper or other purposes, try to avoid this.  It will dull the scissors making it harder to cut material.
2. Thread- Use thread that matches your lace or veil color.
3. Pins- Use at least three to pin your veil so it won’t get scrunched up when you sew the lace down.
4. Threading Needle: Just need one.   Use one that is about 1 inch long.  You don’t need a big needle.
5. Cushion: I used the fleece material as a cushion to pin the veil down.  You can pretty much use anything, as long as it’s flat.  Most importantly, I used a black fleece so I could see the veil.  The black fleece is shown in the picture.

How to Pin Veil Down When Sewing Lace On

Preventing Scrunching: These are what the 3 pins are for.  This is to prevent the veil from scrunching up while sewing the lace down.  Make sure to flatten the material first before pinning it down. Also, you don’t want to stretch out the material too much, you want to keep it relaxed still.

Sewing Line

Where to Sew
When I sewed the lace on, I used the border (which is the thicker white part) to guide me along.  This picture shows the back of the veil.

Final Product!
Sorry this picture is kinda at a weird angle.  I wanted to make sure you could see the whole thing.  I’ll try to get a picture of me or someone else wearing it to give a better view of it.

Cost:

Pre-Made Veil: $14.99 + w/ Joanns 50% off coupon= $7.50

Lace: 3.99/ yard (Use about 8 yards to be on the safe side) +40% off Joanns coupon= $20

I already had the scissors, thread, pins, needles, and glue.

Total: $30 compared to…$200+

For more information on how to make veils, I found these videos to be very helpful…

How to add lace, beads, and etc.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqypV376e8w

How to attach the comb, hair piece, etc.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJpg0r-tWWI

How to stitch a full length wedding veil (chapel): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiDAx-Ffw3Y

Final Tip:

A lot of bridal salons let you rent your wedding veil for free if you purchase the dress with them!  That’s what I’m going to do.  Free 99…now you can’t beat that!  =)

Question:

Any other suggestions?

We booked our July 2011 honeymoon in August 2010. Choosing our honeymoon destination was quite the long, elaborated story for two people who want to travel the world (practically). So I’m going to do this in segments. Today: how we chose!

Mr. Magnolia and I decided to prioritize the honeymoon, allocating quite a large budget to it. It will be the first time we take a proper trip together – if we exclude road trips, of course. We decided to give ourselves two and a half weeks for our honeymoon.

So we started thinking about where to go. With our budget and time frame, we could go to Europe.

Oh, Paris, how we long to visit thee.

I went to Europe in August 2009. I knew that Euro trips are a lot of sight-seeing, walking around, and as gorgeous as they are, they are also exhausting.

Since it’s our honeymoon, and we’re going to *already* be exhausted from buying a house, moving, wedding preparations, and the wedding itself… we decided to unwind and relax on our honeymoon.

In casual discussions, Hawaii came up. I started googling, and kept noticing how many people thought Kauai was the most beautiful island in Hawaii.

Kauai was a real contender. But then I came across some “cons”: apparently there are roosters that crow at all hours (umm… so much for relaxation), and the deal-breaker: the fact that we’d have to take 2 stops (so three flights) in order to get there. With my motion sickness. I wasn’t really super excited about this.

We also looked at Virgin Gorda, a little-known British Virgin Island. If we wanted (and we sort of did) a secluded spot, this was it. But then again – for two and a half weeks, that might be a little long to be so secluded with only one restaurant and one hotel. And then flight issue was still standing, two stops to VG too.

My mother stepped in at this point, and suggested Barbados, which is an easy 5 hour direct flight from here. I researched, and even found a gorgeous hotel that caters to adults (16+), and only has a handful of rooms to ensure intimacy, and was often rated the number one hotel in Barbados: the lovely Little Arches. But my heart wasn’t in it. This wasn’t the honeymoon we had envisioned.

So back to Hawaii we went. A little bit more research, and then..

Maui.

Maui: it was a one stop flight. It had gorgeous beaches, lots of activities if we wanted them, a volcano to visit, many, many types of accommodations to choose from. We fell in love with Maui and decided to go there – yay!

Up next, I’ll tell you about finding our honeymoon love shack

Are you/did you have trouble deciding where to go on your honeymoon? How did you choose?