Update

So I stopped working with Carter this past week and I'm sad about it.  Luckily, today I met his other babysitter at Old Navy and we exchanged numbers so I might go over and see them some days when I don't have school.  Nursing school starts on January 9th which is exciting but also completely nerve-wracking.  I know it's going to be a lot of work but I also know that I got my BS in 3 yrs and my MS in 1.5 yrs so if I can do that, I can handle this.

Ally is coming to visit for New Years so hopefully I will have some motivation and she and I can get the centerpieces done.  I also would like to get the address labels for the invites printed out so I can assemble the invitations.  I know that once school starts, I will not be getting anything wedding-related done whatsoever.

So basically, this is a list of things I need to get done (in no particular order):

1) Finish centerpieces
2) Label envelopes
3) Figure out favors
4) Make table numbers
5) Make place cards
6) Make/buy cardbox
7) Get Ally's dress
8) Get my dress altered
9) Get shoes
10) Get jewelry
11) Lose 30 lbs
12) Order groom's cake
13) Finalize menu
14) Do hair/makeup trial
15) Make programs

Bridesmaid Bouquet Preview!!

Bouquet Preview

So the wonderful girls at Memories Made Boutique sent me a preview of my bouquets:

Chopped Fingers

So tonight was SUPPOSED to be a craft night but while attempting to cook dinner for my fiance, I sliced off a huge chunk of my finger and had to go to Centra Care.  I wound up spending over 2 hours there just for them to tell me I have to come back tomorrow.  They couldn't suture it because the gap is too wide and it won't stop bleeding so they can't put dermabond on it.  So they put this weird stuff on it, wrapped it up, and told me I have to come back tomorrow.  So now I can't go into work and I am going to have to go to orientation at Old Navy with a busted finger.  Also, it cost $250.  They quoted me $475 though so it's better than I originally thought.  Blahhhh. 

Silk Flowers

If I never see another one again, it will be too soon.

I am currently in the process of cutting the heads off of the thousands of flowers I purchased from http://www.silkflowersfactory.com/.  I'm almost done but my fingers hurt so I am going to try to finish the rest tomorrow and then start making poms again.

Oh, the joys of DIY!

More flowers = more poms

So yesterday I got about $400 worth of silk flowers in the mail.  The next few days will consist of removing the flower heads and then working on more poms.  I have LOTS of styrofoam balls coming in the mail as well so that will give me plenty more work to do.  I'll post pictures of my progress.

Craft Supplies

So I ordered about $400 worth of silk flowers from http://www.silkflowersfactory.com/ which I am waiting to come in the mail.  I also ordered more styrofoam balls on ebay.  Some of them are 5" which will be used for the main centerpieces and then the others are 3.5" which will be used for decoration all over the tables.  I got them from http://stores.ebay.com/seasonaldecorator.  I definitely recommend them.  They ship very quickly and they will combine shipping costs if you buy more than one thing at a time.  The prices are also very reasonable.  If you are making poms, the styrofoam ball is probably the most expensive part of the entire thing and I did the math and even with 1/2 off coupons from Joanns or Michaels, this is still cheaper (even with shipping costs).

Along with the poms for the ceremony and the centerpieces, I was thinking of possibly doing something like this to decorate the cake tables and escort tables:

For the actual centerpieces, I am hoping to do something similar to these:

Shoe Ideas

I have had such a problem trying to figure out what kind of shoes I want to wear on my special day.  I'm a very casual girl and I HATE wearing heels because they are soooo uncomfortable.  I thought about potentially wearing flats but it's going to be hot since we are getting married in August so they would have to be peep-toe.  Then I figure, why not just wear flip flops?  It's what I wear everyday anyway.  But I'm having a hard time finding ones I like that aren't super expensive.  My shoe budget is $50 but I would prefer to spend half of that if possible.  I guess I could buy a pair of white Old Navy flip flops for $2.50 and embellish them.  I've gotten pretty good at using a glue gun lately and my fabric and ribbon flowers are getting much nicer.

First Pomander Completed

So I finished my first pomander.  I got the mini carnations from silkflowersfactory.com and the styrofoam ball from Michaels (with a 40% off coupon of course).  I wanted to try it out and see how they came out so I only bought one.  It was super easy to make and didn't take a long time at all.  I plan on making about 10 of them to hang outside during the ceremony.  I'm also thinking of using them as centerpieces.  It would be a lot easier since it's not using real flowers and I can do them far ahead of time.

The picture I took is the pomander sitting on top of a vase.  I figure I could fill the vase with pebbles or sand/seashells (since we live in Florida) and just sit the pomander on top.  I love the dark purple and I also ordered white and what was SUPPOSED to be lavendar but is more like a pink/purple.  I'm curious to see how the white come out.  I ordered 12 styrofoam balls on ebay for $32. The flowers cost $25 for 250 flower heads.  I used about 1/2 of them.  Ribbon I got at the dollar store and I can use one spool for about 3 poms.  So basically the cost for one pomander is $16.  Not too shabby.  Those would be some cheap centerpieces too.  The florist was quoting me like $50 a centerpiece and I just don't have that in my budget so this would definitely work better.

Bouquets & Stamps

Today, I paid the deposit on my bouquets.  I found someone to make beautiful fabric bouquets for me.  I also mailed my veil materials to Ashleigh and bought stamps for the invitations.  It was a very productive day!



Pomander Flowers are ordered!

So I ordered the silk carnations for my pomanders today at http://www.silkflowersfactory.com/.  I got dark purple, lavendar, and cream ones.  I still need to buy styrofoam balls and ribbon.  The Walmart near our new apartment has an AMAZING craft section so I will probably get the styrofoam balls there.  The ribbon I can get at Dollar Tree.  I plan on using the following tutorial from littlenikki on Wedding Bee (my favorite wedding site).  You can see the tutorial here:  http://diy.weddingbee.com/topic/silk-flower-pomanders-1.  I also found shepherd hooks at Dollar Tree so if I can't tie them to chairs, I can hang them from those.  I am hoping it looks something like this:

Fabric Bouquets

So I've become obsessed with these fabric bouquets.  I'm wondering if it might be easier since I am going to be having my wedding far away.  Ordering flowers and then making the bouquet and storing it somewhere might be a bit of a hassle.  I might do it for the centerpieces but I think it might be nice to have fabric bouquets so I would have something to remember from our wedding day besides pictures.  There are lots of tutorials online so I should be able to figure it out.  Here are some examples:

 

Driving me crazy

Casey (my fiance) is driving me crazy!  I have all of these great ideas for the wedding and he has no faith that I can pull any of them off.  I told him I am DIYing the flowers and he just went on a speech about how I'll never do it.  He also hates my pomander idea for the ceremony decorations.  I'm doing it anyway though.  There needs to be something on the outside to decorate the venue.  The problem is that Casey thinks he knows EVERYTHING about weddings since he's DJed so many of them.  Ugh.  Well it's my money that is paying for the wedding so we will spend it how I want to spend it.

One of the girls on Wedding Bees (my FAVORITE wedding website) had a great tutorial on how to make them.  They came out lovely so I think I am going to order the flowers from the same site she did.  Here is a look at the tutorial.

New Bridesmaid Ideas

So the bridesmaid clutches are a no-go.  My bridesmaids didn't like the idea and would rather have flowers.  So I'll be doing those.  Most likely, I will go with simple fresh flowers from Sam's Club, Costco, Bunches Direct, and Flower Exchange.  I might also check Trader Joe's when I go up north.  We don't have one here but I've heard that they have great flowers.

The goal for the bridesmaids will be to do something super simple.  Carnations, Roses, Hydrangeas are all good possibilities.



Flowers

So I got a call from Stew Leonards today and they gave me a rough estimate for the flowers.  Basically, a bridal bouquet would be $150, bridesmaid bouquets would be $75, and centerpieces would be at LEAST $50.  If I have 20 tables, that's gonna be $1000 just for the centerpieces.  Also, the bridal bouquet is 3x what I hoped to spend and the bridesmaid bouquets would be $125 more than I hopes to spend.

Soooooooooo.....

I've decided to do them myself.  Costco and Sam's Club both sell bulk flowers that can be delivered to your door.  Then I can make the centerpieces and bouquets on my own.  Dollar Tree sells glass vases for $1 and you can order them in bulk online.  I might also check Goodwill and secondhand stores for interesting ones to put on the guestbook table and by the cake.

I have lots of ideas for my bridal bouquet.  I think these two are very beautiful:

For the bridesmaid, I was thinking of something simple....like carnations.  I've also thought about having them carry clutch purses down the aisle.  I have to see how they feel about that but I think it could be an interesting idea.  I have a lot of options on this one.

Pocketfolds

So I am still thinking of doing pocketfolds but I don't want to spend a lot of money.  I mostly just want to keep things organized when I mail them out.  So I think I am going to get a panel pocket from http://www.cardsandpockets.com/.  I can slip everything in there and then just mail it out.  They are also only 47c each so getting 100 of them will be under $50.  I'm under in my budget so far so I have the money.  I'm also thinking of getting a backing for the invitation but I have to see about that.  I might just buy the paper and do it myself....it will probably be cheaper that way.

Guest Book

So I ordered my guest book off of ebay today.  It came to about $11.50 total.  We're having a photobooth so this will allow guests to paste their picture and write a message underneath.  I'm going to get all different colored Sharpee markers so it will be colorful and interesting.  The cover is a bit boring so I might jazz it up a little when it comes in.  I'm thinking maybe covering it in lace and then getting some purple ribbon or flowers from Joann.  So now here is another item checked off of the list!!  :)

Moving time & Flower Ideas

So we're moving next week into a bigger and cheaper apartment (see, I am good at making deals in ALL aspects of life) and it's amazing to see how much CRAP we have accumulated.  I'm glad that we will have more storage space in this new place though.  So I haven't been able to do much when it comes to the wedding front. 

I'm still looking for ideas on flowers.  I'm going up to NY in December to do a lot of wedding stuff so I am going to go to a few places for floral consultations.  My future father-in-law suggested Stew Leonards so I am going to try there.  He is a DJ in the Connecticut area so he knows all of the best vendors.  I'm still not sure if I should attempt a DIY for the centerpieces and possibly even the bouquets.  I hate spending so much money on something I KNOW I can do on my own but I don't know if I am going to have the space at my parent's house to keep everything refrigerated properly.  Also, I am not sure when or how I am going to be able to get them to the venue on the day of the wedding.  I thought about doing silk flowers, but I'm not sure if that would be tacky or expensive.  I would have to get nice ones that look real and aren't too much money.

I'm also thinking of doing wedding pomanders (also known as "kissing balls") for the ceremony.  I could attach them to the chairs for a little bit of decoration or I could see if the Candlewood has shepherd's hooks to hang them on.  I would do those with silk flowers so I could get them done ahead of time.  Probably in some combination of purple, yellow, and white.

Wedding Dress!

Well I haven't posted in a while but I would like to report that I have purchased my wedding dress!!!!  I went into David's Bridal just to check things out....I didn't expect to buy anything.  The lady there was really helpful and not pushy at all.  I tried on about 10 dresses and really loved the third one I put on.  I decided to sleep on it though and see how I felt in the morning.

Well I could not get the dress out of my mind so the next day I went back to David's Bridal and purchased it!  I wound up getting the plus size because I wanted make sure there was enough room for my boobs so it was $50 extra.  Luckily, it was on sale so it only cost me $426 total.  My budget for dress + alterations is $1000 so I will be well under that, even after I get all of the alterations done (and there will be a lot).

Here is a picture of my dress:

I didn't think I wanted a veil but after thinking about it I realized that I won't feel like a bride unless I have one.  My wonderful friend Ashleigh has kindly agreed to make the veil and the flowers that I want to wear in my hair as well.  I figure that if I get annoyed with the veil, I can take it off during the reception and just wear the flowers.  I went to Joann Fabrics to get fabric and other things to embellish the veil with and Ashleigh is going to get the flowers.  I also picked up the garter for $2.99.  My budget for the garter was $25.  I spent about $46 on stuff for the veil and I am going to mail Ashleigh another $20 in case she needs it.  I moved over the money from the garter budget and into the veil budget so now I am still under.  :)  I love being thrifty.

This is how I am thinking of wearing my hair:

Next I will be working on addressing the save the dates so I can get those out before school starts.  :)

Stuffing Envelopes

So basically the only thing I've done in the past week for the wedding is stuff envelopes.  I haven't addressed anything because I still need tons of addresses and I haven't ordered return address labels because I'm not sure where we will be living at that point.  If I get into Polk State for nursing school and I don't get in anywhere else, we're going to have to move down toward Celebration or Kissimmee so it doesn't take me an hour and a half to get to school.  It wouldn't be a big deal because Casey's school is down that way so it wouldn't be any longer for him.  If I get into Daytona State, then we need to stay here because it's right in the center of both of our schools.  If I get into Florida Hospital College, we will probably stay where we are out of convenience.  So I haven't been able to do as much as I would like but I have 507 days until the wedding so I think I'm ok.

Envelopes

So I decided to do SOMETHING wedding related so I got envelopes for the Save the dates, invites, and RSVPs.  I ordered them from http://www.envelopemall.com/ and paid $83 for about 600 envelopes.  They're nice metallic ones in lilac.  So my wedding invitation budget was $200 and I spent $138!  I went over $35 on the save the dates but considering how much I saved on the other stuff, I'm still way under budget.  Same thing for our wedding bands.  I'll probably wind up putting that money towards decor (flowers, etc) or saving it for the honeymoon.  Yay for being a budget bride!



No news here

No news on the wedding front.  I haven't had time to really do anything with school and nursing applications on my mind.  I need to order envelopes for the save the dates and wedding invites but other than that, I don't have anything else planned.  I started Weight Watchers again and I'm doing the new points plus program.  It's been pretty easy to stick to actually so I'm hoping to reach my goal of 45 lbs by December.  Then I can start looking for dresses.  Other than that, nothing to report.

Invites Came In!!!

So my wonderful bridesmaid, Ruby, finished my wedding invitations and sent them in to me.  I love them!  They're so pretty! 

So originally I budgeted $200 for invitations.  The paper cost $10, the shipping was about $20, and I'm getting a $10 gift card for the kid who designed them.  Total cost = $40.  Now all I need to get are envelopes and possibly inserts to put them in.  It should be under $100 total.  WOO HOO!

Aren't they beautiful??

New wedding band!

So I returned my old wedding band and got a different one.  I thought the old one was too gaudy.  It was an insert so there was a band on the top and a band on the bottom.  With the way my ring is, I felt like it was too much on my hand.  So I got one that goes on the bottom.  It doesn't go flush against my engagement ring but I think it looks good enough.  I'm going to have to send it in to get it resized (it's a little big) but I wanted to take it home to show Casey.

So here is the first one I had that I didn't like:

And this is the one I replaced it with:

Again, it's a little big so I'm going to have to get it resized, but I think it's a lot less gaudy.  It was also half the price which is nice because now I have money to spend on other things.  :)

Wedding Bands

So my wedding band came back from the jeweler today and honestly, I hate it.  It's too gaudy.  My ring is a very unique shape so I thought getting an insert made to fit around the ring would look great but instead it looks like too much for my small fingers.  I called the jeweler and asked if it could be returned since I already purchased it and they already bent it to fit my other ring.  The girl who answered the phone didn't know if I could do that so I have to call back on Monday to talk to a manager.  I really just want something much simpler.  So hopefully it's not too late to change it.