A DIY Wedding

So after many many months of planning and prepping, it's all over! I am officially a Mrs. Since I've been talking so much about it, I thought I'd share some of the pictures.

I love love love how the flowers turned out (this is the only part of the post that isn't DIY - I just loved them so much I had to share). It had some pink and peachy orange roses mixed fushia stock. It also had some fun green accents - the green berries. The bridesmaids got a miniature version of my bouquet. (I'm sorry, I don't totally know the flower names - I'm horrible with those ;-) The colors worked so well with the bridesmaids dresses.

Invites and Save the Dates
If you've been following this blog, then you have already seen my wedding invites and save the dates so I won't bore you with those details again.

Tip: Paper can be bought in bulk - or if you use transparency sheets, they're cheap and unique. ;-) Each invite cost me 75 cents, each save the date cost 50 cents and I mailed them with a normal stamp (which both my husband and I bought many many forever stamps when they were still 41 cents... every penny counts!)

Favors
I made 2 different versions of the favors (mainly because I bought the favor boxes on 75% off clearance and well, they didn't have enough so I decided I'd purposely make 1/2 one style and 1/2 another -- funny, people liked getting different ones to bring home). You can see the close up of one in this photo and then the table shot has a picture of another one. I used Martha Stewarts favor boxes to create them. Using stamps from PTI - Beautiful Blooms, With Sympathy, Around and About Sentiments. I stuffed them with some Dove chocolates that I got during a post-Valentine's Day sale... heehee - don't you just love March weddings? :-) I don't even think anyone noticed since I had a pink color combo as well. Yay! Win win!

Tip: Shop the clearance aisles at your favorite craft store and its ok if people get different favors. Also, post-holiday candy is cheap and candy doesn't go bad that quickly.

Centerpieces
The centerpieces were actually a last minute change. Originally I wanted to do something much more intricate. I ended up getting some dinner plates on clearance and some fun beads to rest the candles on. While not as "crafty" as I initially intended, it did give each table a sense of simple elegance. Candles are a little messy though - definitely lots of wax on the plates and bead things. But once again, the thrify bride knows that candles are cheap.

Tip: I bought the candles at a post-Christmas sale so they were very cheap - and no one could even tell they were peppermint scented! Also, nice looking dinner plates at Walmart are less than a dollar - you don't need to get a candle holder or anything crazy... ( I haven't asked but I doubt anyone knew they were dinner plates)


Place cards
I showed the original template for the place cards I used but I didn't show any names or font choices. The digital Eat Cake files plus some photoshopping helped create a personalized place card that matched the flowers and the programs.

Tip: There are so many free digital kits online. Also, use open source photo editing software (yay free!) to modify the kits to your taste!

Programs
If I were to do the wedding all over again, I would never never never again do my programs (template picture here) the way I did them. I spent the last two days before the wedding basically in a certain commonly known print shop yelling at their incompetence. However, as every thrifty bride knows, when things don't go your way, you negotiate the price down. :-D We got a significant discount because of the screwup.

Apparently even though some places claim to print on cardstock, they really don't. Or at least not the one in my hometown. I don't think I've been so mad before. If we were to call one moment a bridezilla moment, it would have been when I was inside this said printshop. They overcharged me 3 times the original price initially and while the test print was "perfect" (i.e. all my edges lined up properly), the final product was not.

Tip: If anyone screws up, negotiate for a discount! And always ask about bulk discounts!

So there we go! 1 year of my life and all I have to show for it is a few pictures. ;-) I'll have some more fun ones tomorrow - cos we know its the other details such as the dresses that are so much more fun!