DIY- Wedding Ornament

This is a DIY that I have been wanting to create since we tied the knot! Yes, its been over three years! I just couldn't part with our left over wedding invitations...so the other day I pulled them out of hiding and got to work. I found this idea over on weddingbee. Here is the post I did a few year ago! Wow..haven't been over there in a long time!

Here is the finished product! I want to say it looks better in person!! It will look even better on our Christmas tree this year!!!

First cut your invitation into strips. Then roll them up somewhat tight..I used a piece of tape to secure them. I also let them sit for a day prior to placing them in the glass ornament just incase the tape gave way.. It did happen quite a bit!

I won't lie..this project took me a while to complete! It also depends on the size of ornament. Or you could just place the strips inside the ornament.(see below) It takes like no time at all to complete. I think it also depends on colors of your invitation. If you have a very colorful invite it would look great. Since a huge part of my invite is white I had to really try to keep the green showing as much as possible. 

 Soon as we put up our Christmas tree I will snap some pictures of them! We have one of our invitations framed and I love looking at it..but now I get to use them again. It is such a great way to use your left over invites..and have such a meaningful ornament. 

 

Free Silhouette Monogram!

 

I truly adore the silhouette!

Picture from Wedding Chicks

So, click on over to Wedding Chicks to download and create your own silhouette monogram!!!

There are over 21 beautiful colors to choose from!

We love Free!!

DIY Seed Packets

I'm helping to throw a bridal shower this coming April and have been hard at work creating some nice DIY projects. I came across this free seed packet template over at Ruffled!

photo from Ruffled

They give you three different designs to work with...I couldn't make up my mind so I'm using them all! Using a light pink cardstock (The Brides favorite color) I printed off several sheets! Here are a list of items I used.

paper cutter (makes it go faster)

scissors

creaser & bone folder

self healing mat

double stick tape

 It takes a while to crease and cut them all out so maybe do a couple each night so you don't get burned out :) Here are a few pictures!

Here is a picture of the creases...which totally makes it 100% easier to fold nice and precise!

 All that is left is to fill them with flower seeds!

I am not sure what to put on the packet..possible the type of flowers seeds it will contain.. we will see! It felt good to jump into a DIY project..it's definitely been a while!

Supplies for a Dollar!

Ever thought of hitting up your local Dollar Tree for your big day? Take a look at some of these thrifty deals!

Having a carnival or Hollywood theme? Wouldn't these old fashion popcorn cups be perfect?  

Cost: 2pack for $1.00!

Or this popcorn tub! Cost: 1 tub for $1.00!
Putting together a popcorn buffet? Click over here for more! I plan on looking more into the popcorn buffet idea. Want a popcorn theme but don't dig the carnival feel, click over HERE for something a bit more chic.

Small white wedding favor boxes. Cost 6 count for $1.00!

3 inch glass candle-holders, Cost  $1.00 each!! This glass holder had some good reviews too.

Click over HERE to see more!!

On a personal note, my flight is canceled back to the West Coast! So, now we have two more nights here in PA! This is such good news :)

Holiday Wedding Card

Just got married? Want to share a little picture of your big day to others? Check out this simple snazzy card! I just received this card in the mail yesterday and I had to share! This card is from my friend Teresa who tied the knot last October! 

This is definitely one of my favorite pictures..so glad they chose this as their official 2010 Holiday picture! 

Printed "Merry Christmas" on the front, made two slits in the paper, and slid the 

photo right into place.. So simple and creative!

This time last year we were sending out pictures from our big day for the Holidays! Wow, did that year go by fast! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends! 

Blurb Book Coupon!

This happens only once in a while! I am totally taking advantage!! I've been putting together a wedding album for family members..and this is the coupon I have been waiting for!

So, hurry on over to Blurb Books!

  Coupon Code: Liberation      Expiration July 31

Oh, and here is a picture I took a few weeks ago of my neighbor and her adorable little girl! It's one of my favorites!

Picture by Me :)

Have a beautiful day!

Our Wedding- Guest Book

In the early stages of planning of our wedding I believe the first item I crossed off our list was our guest book! I got my inspiration from Tying the Knot's guest book! I always thought a traditional guest book was a waste of money...paper...etc... Seriously, what do you do with it after-wards? So, when I saw this idea...I was sold! We just had our engagement shots completed and I was anxious to use them one way or another!

I went with Blurb for our book! They had several different layouts and styles to choose from. I carefully picked out certain graphics but used them as watermarks...

If I could do it again....I would have used one large picture which covered the entire cover like I did for my boudoir book. This was my first time using Blurb book and I was just getting the hang of it...




I had a hard time figuring out which pictures to choose from!




I also made a couple of pages with just pictures...

Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting any of these pictures.

I had 9 sides with each of those containing lines for our guests to leave sweet messages! We had a perfect amount of space for our guests! The other remaining 12 sides were adorable pictures! There are 11 pages total... We had about 150 people at our wedding...You could also keep those pages blank for a yearbook feel....I am very happy with the over all quality of the book! It was worth every penny!!

Since we had so many compliments about our book....Something tells me our guests were eager to get over there and give us their autographs! So give your guests something new to talk about!!

Anything else I would have done differently besides enlarging the picture on the cover? Probably add more pages of engagement shots!! We currently have our guest book on our coffee table for daily viewing!

Our Wedding- Our Signs

If you are planning on having a garden, outside and/or "nature" themed wedding...I highly suggest making a couple of cute little signs! My Husband put together three signs for me with extra pieces of wood laying around.. I simply did a little scribble and finished! It was so easy!

Photo Credit: Sight Photography

Even though our venue had a couple of signs directing our guests, we actually had several gracious comments appreciating the extra help! I placed them up the winding road which could become confusing for first time visitors. It was just another cute DIY project that also assists your guests! Plus, you will get some cute pictures which is always good!

Our Wedding- Wine Boxes

I'm going to jump around a little bit with my recaps..

One DIY project that I was able to complete on time, were the wine boxes. Our guests were asked to sign each box with a message! For our first 5 years of marriage we would open one bottle of wine and read all of our sweet notes from our guests. As you see there are 6 boxes..I know we couldn't wait a whole year for our first bottle so we opened the very 1st one the next day:)

We ordered them in plain natural wood and painted them a simple black. I made a little sign to explain what to do and purchased some silver markers. This was probably the easiest DIY project ever! Again-thank you to my Father for painting!!! If I had more time, I would have purchased a table runner or placed flowers to jazz up the area a bit. Again, It was so hard to do everything living across the country!

Here are a couple of shots!
Before...

photo credit: Friend



After...




Each box was completely full of sweet notes from our amazing guests!

Photo Credit: Sight Photography
Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting these pictures

We also did a guest book but when I heard about this idea I had to jump on it! It also got our guests up and moving around. We had many compliments on this idea! As to where did we find our wine boxes...I honestly cannot remember! We found a site online..and took a chance!

I was very very pleased with our DIY project!

Our Wedding: For the Groom

I had absolutely NO idea where to even begin for my now Husband when it came to a gift prior to the ceremony. He is not a cuff link type of guy...So when I heard about a Boudoir shoot I was sold! I posted about my experience here and here. I put together a book from www.blurb.com along with an adorable card I made with a love note inside. As a last minute purchase, I picked up a Coach money clip. So, I was set!

My Husband L*O*V*E*D the book of pictures! As did I! I am so glad I took a leap of faith on this one! It was one awesome experience!

Here are two pictures of the homemade card! He really loved this! Kingston is definitely our son and we missed him all weekend!

The photographer who I went to is based out of Los Angeles. Jordana, from Hazelnut Photography, did a great job and I already signed up for our Trash the Dress session in August! She launched her new website! It is really adorable so go check it out!

Have a fun TUESDAY!

Our Wedding: The Programs

A couple of words to describe the programs...Frustrating & Beautiful! Yes, what a set of words!! I do not have any professional pictures of them at this point but took some myself. Here is a picture showing off my beauties! The goal was simple and classy! I think we achieved that :)

My wonderful BM Danielle designed each page for me and used the same theme from my invitations and placecards. I really loved how I was able to use the floral damask pattern and birds throughout our special day. Here is a close up of the front:

The second page was a list of family and friends in the wedding etc. The third page was the order of the ceremony. If you look closely you can see one of the birds!

On the back side we did a remembrance area for our family. I had many compliments on this part and our officiant did read those names along with beautiful words in the beginning of our ceremony.

Photo Credit: ME

Please link back to East Coast Wedding when posting any picture

Now why did I say frustrating? Well, the most frustrating part was tying the ribbon. Please make sure you double check the ribbon you are purchasing! The ribbon decided to turn our fingers black and it also rubbed onto our paper... UGH! I went back to Michaels and found another brand and took a shot at it..and YAY no more black fingers! It also took a very LONG time to complete all of them. So, my advice is to start VERY early if you decide to take on a DIY project like this! A huge thanks to my Parents who helped me tackle this project! I was only able to do all of this one week prior to the wedding..

Also, we had about 145 guests at the ceremony and I only made 100! Saved time & money. We had about 15 left over. Usually a couple will only take one program..if anything please don't make a program for each guest! To find some other good tibits on programs, head over to Tying the Knot, trust me on this one!

invites & ornaments !!

Finally...Sunday....I put the last of the invites in the mail! WOW, less than 2 months to go... I have been waiting for my wedding day for years! and... it will be here before you know it. It feels like we just mailed our STDs! Now..lets just cross our fingers and do a little dance..that everyone magically fills out those reply cards and pops them in the mail!!! Now, what should I do with all the left over invites? Well, I came across this post from Weddingbee...Mrs. Green Tea. Make Christmas ornaments!

Cut your invitations into strips and roll them up very tightly!

Next, place into a clear plastic or glass ornament! Hang and reflect :)

BUT...in the meantime they will sit in their box till the holiday season rolls around... What did you do with your leftovers?

Update...

A while back I posted THIS about these beautiful DIY candles. I requested my Father to take on the challenge..and he sure did! In fact, the parents gave them out as Christmas gifts! Take a peak as how they decorated them.

Oh! it turned out good!!! I love it when DIYs recipes turn out soo good! I already placed an order for my Father to complete!!!! Thanks Dad!

Dibble Dabble

Over the holiday I flew back home to PA and we definitely didn't waste anytime on getting some stuff done for the wedding! When I came across this picture I just had to make a couple of my own to place around the venue.

photo unknown

So...the Dad..Fiance and I headed down in the workshop and painted several wooden boxes. Painting was actually very relaxing! My Mother and I plan to head to some nurseries and grow some of our own flowers to place inside. I plan on placing these around the venue on the wooden deck.

These flower boxes will be saved and hopefully will be placed on our deck of our first home together! I plan to stencil the date of our wedding on the bottom.

Guest Book

I have never been a fan of the traditional guest book. It feels like you are "signing in" at a conference. Seriously...what do you do with it after the wedding? I was actually going to forget the whole tradition until I came across the Blurb Book. It is very close to the Kodak picture books that I have made in the past for family but the Blurb gives more options for a low price. We all love a low price!!

It only took me a couple of hours to do and finish. I used our engagement shots that our fab photographer took out in Manhattan Beach Ca. It was nice to be able to use these beautiful shots again in a different way. So, I used different layouts and kept specific pages blank with lines on it for our guest to leave a message. This makes it a lot more personal and I can just see it laying out on our living room coffee table for all to enjoy.

Blurb Book

Has anyone else used the blurb book? Were you happy with the results? Recommend anything?

Father Dibble Dabbles

This past weekend I asked my Father to take a dive into a project for moi. You must understand something...My Father dibble dabbles in everything! He takes the old melted wax from church and remolds them into new candles. Cuts out wooden shapes for his Mother In-Law for her church bazaar every year. He has a little workshop in the basement where he can disappear up to several hours at a time. So, when I came across this unique idea, I had no choice but to cut/paste into an email with LOVE Nikki as the signature!

I came across these water balloon luminaries.

It came from the Candletech.com. They give step by step instructions on how to make these gorgeous luminaries. Plus, they give pictures each step of the way. (extremely helpful) I am requesting pictures from my Father as he attempts at this project and will post as soon as possible. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it comes out great! I can just picture a few of these on the fireplace mantle. During the open house at our venue, I took a couple shots of the mantle to remember how they placed several different candles on the one side. I REALLY liked it! If we can master these candles, we can add different color to the wax and create a taupe..ivory..any color we want!

photo credit: ME

So, a huge thank you goes out to my Father and...i know my Mother will assist! So..THANK YOU! My parents are extremely helpful with the wedding planning. It is very hard living on the other side of the country and wanting to dibble dabble myself :)

Table Numbers

A couple more thoughts to go along with the place cards...which would be the table numbers! I have a couple ideas I would like to share. The first one is my absolute favorite due to the fact it's the most personal :) In fact, one of my BM's used this idea in her reception. They did the photos in black and white.

Photo Credit: ME

Our venue doesn't provide metal table holders but they do have small silver frames. How boring! Here is another lovely option. The birds are so adorable. You can use any type of paper for the background and color to make it your own.

Photo credit: weddingbee.com, appologies I can not locate the exact Bee!

I think this may be my number one choice! Especially, since we will be having white flowers as the centerpieces! Using different size mason jars, vases and flowers oh my! Using house numbers play the role of table numbers. They come in the different sizes, colors, styles and they can be used again for a possible home? wink wink..

photo credit: Leigh Miller Photography

Place Cards...and More

As I am gathering information and ideas...I have come to the conclusion that having a gorgeous table like this will be completely out of the question due to the location of where this table will be positioned. There are doors positioned very close and I don't want to worry about wind..or anything! Plus there isn't a lot of room....

photo credit: The Knot

Then I came across this idea and fell hard! I could prop two of these up against the wall and put flowers/decor below. Nice and clean...looking. I call this an Escort Board! Mrs. Eggplant from Weddingbee designed a beautiful masterpiece! She gives step by step instructions to create your own.

photo credit: Mrs. Eggplant

I also read somewhere that brides use little envelopes with the full place card inside along with something else... that "else" could be information to upload personal pictures from the wedding to our WinkFlash account. I have been wondering how to tie that all together..maybe this is my answer! My board will not be this colorful! But..I do see a little bird in the corner versus a flower!

On Facebook, an old High School friend found me today and as I was perusing his "photo albums" I came across some wedding pictures! First, I couldn't believe another HS friend is married..then as I took a closer look I was inspired! Personality written all over it! Take a look at their escort board display!

All of their guests found a spot on the soft grass for the ceremony!

Have I mentioned how anxious I am to meet with Teresa over thanksgiving and get a design going?!! Oh it's Friday! Darin is home! The sun is out! I think the beach is a callin!