Monday, March 14, 2011

**DIY time**

Paper Doily Stars/Flowers

I happened upon this gorgeous and creative d-i-y recently at thehappyhomeblog and I have to admit...I was immediately bummed I hadn't seen in 5 months ago in time to add to my own decor. To be fair, it's probably for the best that I didn't have one more thing to do myself beforehand, or I may have gone under. Anyhow these are originally described as stars but the first thing I saw when I looked at them was the potential for flowers if vintage buttons or even patterned paper circle paper cut-outs were placed in the center. What I love most about these is that they can be used for wedding decor, home decor, or even Christmas ornaments! Whether your choice is star or flower, I hope you find this D-I-Y to your liking!!


For the full how to step-by-step:

                             http://thehappyhomeblog.com/?p=2391

Friday, March 11, 2011

**DIY time**


Cardboard Suitcase Card Box
I began thinking today that if this blog ever gets popular, the chances are, not every bride will stumble across it at the beginning of there journey and may even show up at the end. With that thought in my mind, I decided to intermittently splice great d-i-y projects, resources, tips, and other things that can be useful to a bride at any stage of wedding planning.

The first one of these posts is a great idea from one of the girls over at weddingbee. Is this not the cutest idea for a card box ever?! I had been looking around for something bc I didn't want to just gift wrap a box with a hole it. Simultaneously, I didn't want to get something that just looked like a tissue box marked "Cards" and came across this. I hope you or a bride-to-be you know will find this as great as I did.

Always remember to be resourceful and think outside the box ;) !!!

Check out more:
http://www.weddingbee.com/2010/04/21/the-best-projects-are-simple-projects/

Deciding on colors/themes?


  (Image Source: The Perfect Palette )

So...you may be one of those people who have had a favorite color(s) since you were a kid (at which point everything you owned and all the walls in your room were those colors). These same colors may have survived with you into adulthood but I'm gonna take a guess that chances are, they didn't.

And now you are presented with the decision of what colors to choose that will from that point on be coined as "your colors". Merited or not, people will often subconsciously pull from the colors and themes from your wedding when considering gifts for you and your soon-to-be husband in the future. Being their first memory of you as an official "unit", they'll think, "What should we get ____ ? Oh! I remember they like ___, ___, and _____ from their wedding!" If you think about it, rightfully so, as many people try to infuse their weddings with as much of "themselves" as possible.

A helpful way to start is base on elements you already know about your wedding.

What season is it in? Fresh and pastel colors for Spring, bright and vibrate colors for Summer, Earthy and warm colors for Fall and cool and crisp colors for Winter...with this, also take into consideration the feel that you want your wedding to have for you and your guests. I.E. taking care to pull the warmest shades from the winter color palette to avoid your wedding decor reading as cold... or pulling a few accent pops of color for a Fall wedding to avoid everything running together (and photographing) as a dull brown.

Is it themed? Romantic, Vintage, Retro, Rustic, Whimsical, Destination, Classic Black and White? Doing a little research on these thing will help you find the appropriate color palette from which you'll be able to better tweak and substitute where you choose. A great way I've found is by looking at photographs, magazines, and sometimes paintings that correspond with your theme and pulling possible colors from there. You can also try directly searching things such as "Romantic Color Palette".

 
This Palette's from: Creative Color Schemes



Here is a link to the knots wedding color ideas:
http://wedding.theknot.com/wedding-colors.aspx

On colour lovers you can just type in a color in the search bar and you'll find just about every color palette imaginable (and some that you'd never think of on your own), using that color.
http://www.colourlovers.com/palettes/search

Once you decide on your colors, you can flip through their photos for tons of AWESOME ways to incorporate them
OR
if you're kind of on the fence about a few different combos, what hues to choose of the colors you want, or are just completely at a loss for where to start, it's always great to be able to kinda see them in action ;)


I was taking to a friend a few weeks ago about how she's having her wedding in her hometown literally across the country. She mentioned she was having a hard time conveying to everyone the specific green that was to be used for bridesmaids dress etc. She already had a dress that was the exact color and was worried that even the familiarity of referencing the dress would not be enough for everyone to find something in the exact color she had in mind. Being all too familiar with the difficulty of effectively communicating out-of state members of the wedding party, I quickly scoured my mind for ideas. I think this is common difficulty for brides.

Thinking back to when my husband and I had considered having a wedding swatch of colors instead of two or three, I remembered that we initially considered sending out a color swatch from the Lowes paint department for people to use as a guideline. This makes it easy to grab and take an item that is "the color" to lowes or home depot, match it up with a swatch, and either jot down the name/number/brand or grab a few. Most paint colors will pull up a swatch if you search them on Google and if not then wedding party members can easily run out to Lowes or Home Depot and grab a swatch of their own. With that, of course, there's always the option of mailing out the swatch to be sure they get it. As mentioned before, searching color palettes with also help as you can just print and mail or email them out.

I guess that's all I can think of for now, if you have any great ideas or suggestions that you found helpful in choosing wedding colors, I'd love to hear them!

budget, budget, BUDGET


No matter how long you've been engaged, I'm sure someone (whether a friend, family member, or wedding coordinator) has told you to do wedding budget first. This was honestly the thing I was dreading the most. The keeping up with and following a budget seemed right up my alley, it was more-so the idea of having to think of every little detail to make sure it was included in the budget in the first place that had me seriously dragging my feet. 

 My advice on this is to take one day, grit your teeth and just hammer it all out. Plan a time for you to sit down by yourself and just make a list of every expense you can possibly think of. Afterward, have a time set for you to put your heads together with one or two other wise people just for the sake of them maybe thinking of something you hadn't thought of or helping you re-categorize and trim the list. When you're done, it's time to take it to your family. From this point, you can both do any final add-ons or subtractions catered to your wedding and finally start plugging in numbers. 





At the point of plugging in numbers, there are a few of the best (and free) online options available.

 http://www.spreadsheet123.com/ExcelCalculators/wedding-budget-calculator.html  (generic budget calculator that can be printed off as well)

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/my-wedding (you have to create an account to access this tool)


http://www.ourdreamwedding.com/index.cfm?page=wedding_budget_form_1&crid=7
 (calculator and checklist that will ask for wedding budget, number of guests and bridal party and will then populate a budget for you based on likely expenditures or suggested allotments which can then be modified)

 Many wedding websites will often offer this tool and some stores you can get a registry through (such as bed, bath, and beyond) will also have a budgeting tool available. I did my wedding website through theknot.com and they offered a budgeting tool with my account.

As with any aspect of planning your wedding, I cannot stress enough that you not let it overwhelm you. Regardless of the way it looks in the beginning, it really will come together in the end. :) Good luck!!