My DIY Wedding Blog

Bridesmaids Dresses: CHECK!

2009-03-09T18:27:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday my matron of honor and I went on a search for bridesmaids dresses and we found 'the one'!

Now I must say...turquoise is the hardest color to find for wedding crap. All turquoises, aquas and pool colors are all so different. The dress color is Bahama Breeze, which is a bit lighter than I wanted because I was looking for TURQUOISE! Every turquoise I have come across is more green than blue. My idea of turquoise is a lot more blue than green. SO frustrating.

But, we did find a dress we liked and it came in Bahama Breeze. We are ordering the dresses from Wedding Chapel Bridals in Crystal, MN.

Our dress is the sample in black, the dress next to it just shows the Bahama Breeze color. I should note that this pic was taken inside the dressing room hallway, so it's far from being close to natural light. It's a gorgeous color in person.

My Matron has ordered hers, now I need to get the other 5 girls on the ball so we can get these ordered!

Also, I hope to be able to post a much better picture soon. I don't know if I'll be able to find it online, so I may have to wait until they come in but I will post a picture and the style and designer information as well.

My Wedding Dress - Davinci #8220

2009-02-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

I received my wedding dress today!! I ordered it in October or November from eBay seller priyantogunardi. He custom ordered it for me and had it delivered to my doorstep! Being that it was special ordered, it took a little over 3 months, which is standard and I'm so pleased with my purchase and also pleased that I saved over $300 on the purchase price from local retailers.

My wedding dress is Da Vinci style #8220 and I got it in white/white.

DIY Wedding Invitation Pocketfold Instructions

2008-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

In an earlier blog post I stated that I have completed my wedding invitation pocketfold! Instead of typing out all of the instructions here on my blog, I have written an article on eHow called, "How to DIY Pocketfold Wedding Invitations". It's complete with each step you need to take to make your own pocketfold, along with images of each step along the way. (Click on them to enlarge)

I'm working on getting an actual template of the pocketfold up so you can just print it out to use as a template of your own to cut out the pocketfolds from the 11 x 17" cardstock. I hope to complete it soon and will be posting it here on my blog.

Less than 8 months until our wedding day! Time is going by a little too fast!!

Our Monogram

2008-11-17T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've attempted to design our monogram a few different times in the past few months and after fartin around for about 10 minutes this evening, I think I've got it! It looks nothing like the other designs I've come up with, but this one is my absolute favorite by far.

This is a very rough copy (photo) of it. I still have some tweaking to do, but I've decided that this will be the overall design.

My Square Pocketfold

2008-11-17T17:29:00.001-08:00

I finally assembled a pocketfold today! (The proof is in the pic!) On the first one I did, I even taped the pocket completely closed. Whoops. :/

Our pocketfolds are white and square and have a bright blue mat. The invite itself will be white as well. Since our wedding is in the middle of the summer, I wanted the invites to have a crisp, clean look to them. Also, the outer envelope will be the same blue as the mat.

I can't wait to see how they look when they are finished!

This weekend I also started to work on my lovely pain-in-the-ass butterfly paddle fan/program idea. They are a bit challenging, but I'm confident they'll be worth it in the end. =]

Pocketfold Creation has Begun!

2008-10-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yay! A pocketfold! Actually I think we've completed 5. So that's a good start I think. :) Roger was helping me so I'm looking forward to more of his help. I think I'll end up having to do a lot less by myself than I thought. I'm really glad that he's wanting to help out.

It took me FOREVER to decide on the colors of the pocketfolds. I knew I wanted to make my own rather than buying them already made for $1+ each. Crazy!

I really wanted a pretty blue for the pocketfold, but I couldn't find the right shade and then I opted to just do white pocketfolds with a bright blue mat and then have the outer envelope match the mat - so they'll be bright blue as well. They'll be sure to stick out in the mail once they've been sent. :)

I should note that we're currently just cutting the pocketfolds, we aren't scoring or folding them yet. I just want to get them all cut out first, that's the hardest part.

Tonight we'll be carving the remaining 2 pumpkins of our initial 6! I'll post pics of all of our pumpkins as soon as I've taken some. I can't wait to see them in the dark and lit up with candles!

Disappointed with David's Bridal :(

2008-10-27T06:17:00.000-07:00

<---This picture says it all. (well, I'm kind of smirking a bit because I knew the picture was going to be taken and I did really love the veil, but I really was exhausted and annoyed.)

David's Bridal exhausted me. None of the bridal gowns jumped out at me, and neither did any of the bridesmaids dresses. Now I'm thinking about checking out Raylia Designs for the bridesmaids dresses. There are some shops around here that offer that designer and the turquoise or sky blue looks really pretty. Plus they seem to have a lot more different styles of dresses that I like.

Looking on the bright side...I found the size/style of veil that I like! I want a white, layered elbow length veil. I've seen some on eBay with butterfly satin embellishments on them for like $15. That'd be perfect! No need to spend $69 on a veil from David's. (In my opinion)

As far as my bridal gown goes, I'm sticking with DaVinci #8220. I love that dress! It has the sweetheart neckline that I love, it's fitted on top, full on the bottom and embellished, just the kind of dress I wanted. :) And did I mention it's also the cheapest one I've tried on? Gotta love that!

DJ: Booked!

2008-10-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Ever since we announced our engagement and wedding plans to my parents, they had a friend of theirs in mind to use as our DJ. My dad has been friends with him for years and years but I had no idea that he was a DJ! He ended up having to cancel another wedding because he was already booked for that day, but accepted our request, so YAY! A part of me feels bad that he'll have to cancel and those people will have to book another dj, but hopefully they won't have any problems.

So now we officially have the ceremony and reception venue and our dj booked! As each day passes I find myself getting more and more excited!

I also received some of my paper for the invites I'm doing and I'll post pictures and directions once I'm able to start them. For now what I can tell you is that I'm making square pocketfold invites in white linen and then I'm using a bright blue mat, and then the invite wording will be on white linen as well. I think it'll have a real 'summery' feel to it and that's perfect!

Here's a picture of the mock up of the inside (just the mat and then the invite on regular copy paper). It's nowhere near finished at all yet, but as soon as the other paper arrives, I will take a photo of the mock-up!

Wedding Dress Shopping - with Bridesmaids!

2008-10-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have an appointment scheduled at David's Bridal so that my bridesmaids and myself can try on dresses! I went a couple of weeks ago to look at bridal dresses and I found one that I really like. But...after getting advice from my bridesmaids, I will not be making the purchase until after we go to David's - just in case I find something I like better there. Plus I think if I get my dress there, my bridesmaids would get a discount and that would rock. =)

I'm 97% sure that I want to get their dresses in the Cornflower blue color shown on the pic from David's on the left. I'm letting my maids choose their own style, but I do want them all to be wearing the same shade and probably the same hem length too.

I'll be sure to post pictures!

DIY RSVP Response Card Design!

2008-10-15T08:22:00.001-07:00

Last night I was working on the design for our RSVP response cards and this is what I came up with so far.

We are going to send them as postcards inside the invitation because the postage will be cheaper than ordering envelopes to go with them and purchasing postage for them. Plus, it'll be one less step for the guests to follow when replying. All they have to do is mark their answers and throw it in the mail!

I created this template in MS Publisher using Black Chancery font and a butterfly clip art image. =)

I found THE wedding dress!

2008-10-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I found my dress this past weekend!

I ventured into The Hope Chest Bridal on Saturday morning where I had previously sent them 2 dress styles via e-mail and then they picked some other dresses based on the styles of the ones I sent them. Needless to say, the only 2 I tried on were the ones I picked out. I'm glad it was so easy for me to decide! What's really nice is that they had all of the dresses in a room for me, waiting until I got there.

The dress I have chosen is DaVinci style #8220. The one I'm wearing in the picture is ivory, but I will be getting the dress in white. (see pic below) I haven't ordered it yet but I will be very soon!!

Butterfly Stamp for DIY Invitations

2008-10-08T07:24:00.000-07:00

Our wedding will have a butterfly theme and since I'm doing the invitations myself, I decided to get a butterfly stamp. I'll either use it on the outer enclosure flap on the pocketfolder or on the invitation itself. I haven't fully decided, but I just got it yesterday and I'm so excited! I also bought a few other butterfly stamps, but I haven't received them yet.

I think I might order my paper this weekend from paper-papers.com. They have the color I want and can't find anywhere else in big enough sheets! It's looking like I'll be doing at least 100 invites, possibly as many as 150 so I want to get started right away so I don't feel like I have to rush through them!

Wedding Ceremony & Reception Venue is Booked!

2008-09-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today we have booked the location for both our ceremony and our reception. YAY!! That is a big relief for me. Now I can get on with the rest of the planning! :)

Our ceremony will be outside at Majestic Oaks Golf Club and then dinner, drinks and dancing will follow.

I'm still figuring out a ceremony time, but I am thinking 2:30. This will give us time to take pictures before the ceremony. Now I just need to figure out what guests will do immediately following the ceremony since our reception hall is located at Majestic Oaks as well. Wish me luck!

I am getting more and more excited!!!!!

Helpful Websites

2008-09-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

I am going to make a list here of all of the websites that I find helpful for my wedding planning and that I think will be useful to anyone who is planning a wedding.

*eBay
*TheKnot

*Google (of course!)

*DIY Bride
*Templates

Our Wedding Colors

2008-09-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is the color scheme I'm working with:

Cobalt Blue and White. The accent colors will be yellow and fuschia.

DIY Projects

2008-09-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

I am planning and hoping to complete a lot of the wedding details myself, including:

*Invitations - I'll be doing pocketfolds and my inspiration comes from Heather, you can find hers here. (one of her photos shown on the left)
*Programs
*Thank You's
*Rehearsal Dinner Invites
*Centerpieces for tables
*Table numbers

and I think there's more but I can't seem to think of them at the moment.

Let the scatterbrain moments begin...!

I received a few sample colors for the outfit for my flower girl and I'm thrilled with 2 out of the 3 so YAY! I'll be going dress shopping with some of my girls on October 11th, so I'm going to bring those swatches to compare with the potential bridesmaids dresses so I can see how it'll look. I'm getting so excited, the planning is finally under way!

A Butterfly Hairpiece for Gloria!

2008-09-26T07:51:00.000-07:00

I love this! And since our wedding will be in the middle of summer, Gloria will have her hair up and then we can stick this in there somehow! :)

Engaged! ...for about 6 months now! :)

2008-09-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

Roger and I have been engaged for a little over 6 months (or about 18 months if you want to get technical :) and it's all FINALLY starting to set in for me. I have just started this blog to keep all of my ideas, thoughts, photos, venues, vendors in one place.

I haven't tried on dresses yet, but I plan to very, very soon. Here are the ones that I like so far: (All would be in white, regardless of what color is shown)

The first one is David's Bridal #T8946R. The other 2 are DaVinci #8228, 8246 & 8220 (In order)

I'm not sure that I'll like the way strapless dresses fit, but I do know that my boobs won't be so heavy that they'll push my dress down. I do really like the halter neck styles.

*My DIY Wedding Blog*