DIY projects....last bit!

This should really be it for diy projects. I did quite a bit over the weekend and finally am getting around to posting pics. It's quite a bit so bear with me ;-)

First, I decided to do an iron on for my Mom with the leftover rhinestones I had. Used them all up:I have instructions for how to do this if you click on diy or bridesmaids, it will come up.

Next, I did petal toss signs, menus, for the bar and dinner, and cards sign. The petal toss sign I made in Publisher. The poem I found on good ole trusty google!:


I made the bar sign in Publisher. Found the recipes on greygoose.com. We love the Goose!
The dinner menus were made in Publisher also. I'm printing them on VistaPrints oversized vertical postcards and tucking them into the napkins at each place setting.
This cards sign was also made in Publisher. Where the yellow piece of paper is on the treasure chest is where this sign will go:I got around to designing my card box. It's a treasure chest (we already owned) with fish netting, pink and ivory pearls, and starfish. I also bought a hermit crab for decoration:


The above photo is the bottom of the chest which will have a little sand to cover the bottom and a knobby starfish as well.


Here are my beautiful petal cones:
I bought gold colored doilies from Michaels, used double sided tape to roll them up and stick the bows on that I hand tied with ribbon purchased from Michaels also. I alternated ribbon colors with pink and brown. I'm going to display them in a brown basket with the instructions sign next to them. I love how they turned out:
Here's the brochures I made in Publisher for the OOT boxes. This is the inside:
Outside:
My table numbers also completed in Publisher, just a few for you to see:Lastly, our rehearsal dinner invites. I plan on giving these out in Florida either hand delivered or in the OOT boxes for the bridal party and their spouses/significant others. Here's the front:
And the back with directions to the restaurant from Paradise Cove:
Whew! That is it! I am done with diy! I think.....heehee.

Menus and Invites

These are DIY as well. The 2nd set of invites and the rehearsal dinner menus. The invites were pretty easy; designed them in PowerPoint and had them printed by VistaPrint. I must say; the wording is a little difficult to read at the top. Other than that they are good to go. They came with rose colored envelopes and my RSVP card and Directions card will fit in their nicely. Like one of the knotties suggested, I am sending these to the older crowd (Mike's uncle, my grandmother, and I forgot the last one, lol) We actually have 20 of them with 10 envelopes, so we're actually debating adding a name or two if possible. Eh, we'll see. Kinda late in the game to expect someone to make travel arrangements but you never know.

The rehearsal dinner menus are for the rehearsal dinner at Bahama Breeze. I chose 3 entrees off the menu and decided that's what we're paying for. They don't cater to small parties, so we couldn't rent a room for privacy and we may be seated in the same area at different tables. Right now, that's not sitting too well with me, so I'm thinking about other options. We'll see. I love how the menus turned out but I haven't printed them yet (luckily for me) because we aren't 100% sure that's where it's going to be.

More on invites....

I just took a look at the bottles and the VistaPrint invites came in. Everything looks great. The only problem I see with the VistaPrint invites is that the wording isn't that clear; it's legible, but I think because of the coloring it makes it a little harder to read. Oh well. As a bonus for us, VP made a mistake and sent 20 instead of 10, although they did only send 10 envelopes. Either way, I won't be needing that many. I think we have a total of 70 that we need to send out, and we have 65 bottles and 20 invites from VP. I'm happy with them and just happy that it worked out in time.

I'll post pics of everything as soon as I can. My desktop computer is out of commission right now so I'm using my laptop for now.

Off to watch The First 48 and then to bed. Later ;-)

Catch up!

Whew, it's been a busy few days! I haven't posted since Thanksgiving, I think. We had family up from North Carolina and we had one heck of a weekend. So much has happened since my last post, I don't know where to begin. On top of everything else, I'm back to work and playing catch up from being off since last Tuesday.

Let me see, I'll start by saying that I am now bridal party drama free! Haha. It feels good to have the negativity away from me. I'm not going to go in to detail but it was definitely for the best. When you realize people are not for you, they must be against you and I don't need that mess around me. Peace to the haters!

On another note, Mai ordered her dress! Can you believe it? Everything that girl has been through over the past 5 months and regardless to my protests, she still made it her business to order her dress and be a part of the wedding. I'm amazed, happy, ecstatic, all in one. She really wanted to be a part of our day, no matter what. I love her =) Awww, let me not get emotional here.

Next, I went shopping with Mike's niece and his nephew's girlfriend over the weekend. I was able to get their tank tops from Old Navy for $5 a piece! I plan to use the rhinestone iron-ons to individualize each tank. For instance, his sister is married, so hers will say Mrs. XXX. His niece calls herself "Ms. Boss", so that's what her tank will say. I'm so excited! Hopefully, the rhinestones will come in soon so I can get started. I also purchased them the mini reed diffusers. They smell great; I'm just going to give them a goodie bag, basically with a bunch of stuff in it and then get them each something else. I don't know. I'll keep looking and see what I come up with.

I also received a coupon from eBay for 40% off on December 1 only. I used the coupon to get my garters. Total price wound up being $12! They are Philadelphia Eagles garters, one keepsake and one toss. Mike should really like them =0)

My invites came in, both sets! The VistaPrint invites as well as the 13 bottles that the lady replaced for me. They all made it in one piece, thank goodness! So this weekends' project is to put the boxes together, address and stamp them, and get them ready to be sent out on the 13th. Everything is right on schedule.

I designed my rehearsal dinner invites but I haven't ordered them yet. Well, actually not invites but menus. Next project is the brochures to go in the out of town boxes, which I'm purchasing from another knottie for an excellent price.

Whoo! That was a mouthful! I'm done for now and I'll return on Friday with pics of everything new. Goodnight. ^-^

Oh, I almost forgot, I received my My Publisher photobook. Love it! I used our engagement pictures and I got 2 for the price of 1! I'm thinking about gifting one to my parents. The quality is amazing and so many knotties recommend them. I see why. Definitely making a parent's wedding album with them. I'll post pics of it in the near future. Goodnight, seriously this time.

Invites....part 2

I spoke to the woman who made the invites and even sent her pics of the damage. She kept apologizing and asked me what I wanted to do, either get a refund or she could make more bottles. We decided that she is going to make and ship me more bottles as soon as possible. I let her know that I want to get them out early December and she said she can make it happen. So we'll see. I really do love how they turned out and hopefully the other 13 will make it to NJ in one piece.

I'm still short about 5 invites, since we added to the guest list, so I'm ordered another version from VistaPrint. I'll probably use these to send to my 89 year old grandmother, who will probably look at the bottle like WTH? and to people I'm sure won't make it, or appreciate the bottle invite, mostly the older guests and those who probably aren't going to make it.

After Mike gives me the green light on the design he likes best (I made 4 different invites, similar styles) I'll place the order and be done with it. I'll post pics of the one we choose later.

The invites

We received our invites in the mail today. Ugh. First of all, there are 13 of the 65 bottles broken. They were packed with those noodle looking things and paper. Of course they wouldn't survive. Couple that with the mail workers completely disregarding the "fragile" written on the boxes and probably tossing them every which way. So, I'm down 13 invites. On top of that, I was already down a few more because we added people to the list. So now I need 15 invites, total

So what to do? Do I order more bottles and make them myself? Or, just get the Vistaprint invites and send those, as another knottie suggested, to those people I'm quite sure won't be attending. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

Right now I'm waiting to hear back from Andrea (girl who did the invites) to see what she plans to do. I don't know if she had insurance on the packages or not. If it's the latter, we'll see how she intends to make this right. I'll keep you posted. But first, for your viewing pleasure courtesy of Mike:

Here's the banged up box:

My broken bottles in the noodle stuff:

A few of the bottle tops. How wonderful.

New Projects

I looked at my list and right now, I can think of a few additional things I need to do:

• Guest book sign
• Brochures for OOT (out of town) bags
• Rehearsal dinner menus
• Memorial table sign (maybe)

The Memorial table is up in the air right now. Mike wants to honor his Mom in some way at the wedding but he hasn't quite figured out what he wants to do yet. If it includes a memorial table, I can hook it up.

This is the old list and what I have completed to date:

• fan programs
• sand ceremony frame trial
• photo sharing cards
• menu cards
• table numbers
• cocktail menu (signature drinks and spirits)
• RSVP cards
• map and directions cards
• fish net for card box

Not too bad. I went to AC Moore on Saturday and bought another bottle for the officiant to use for the sand ceremony and I bought a little hermit crab to go in the treasure chest. I also have my cocktail menu designed, a rough draft basically. I'll post pics tomorrow. And our rings arrived; I didnt' have time to add it today, so I'll post pics tomorrow also.

Photo sharing cards done!

Another check off the list: photo sharing cards. I got some feedback from the knotties on which sites were best to use for guests to upload their photos. After checking out a few, the best one, overall, is Photobucket. So I created a card that I'm going to print on VistaPrint postcards or business cards to hand out to the guests. Hopefully they put them to use!

• fan programs


• sand ceremony frame trial


• photo sharing cards


• menu cards


• table numbers


• cocktail menu (signature drinks and spirits)


• RSVP cards


• map and directions cards


• fish net for card box

Three things left on this list. Yay! Unfortunately, I recalled some other things I need to add to the list but I'll add them later.

I can mark off the RSVP cards, they are done! Three down, don't wanna count how many more to go. I think the RSVP cards are simple enough but they tie in to all other things paper that I've created and that the guests have seen.

• fan programs


• sand ceremony frame trial


• photo sharing cards


• menu cards


• table numbers


• cocktail menu (signature drinks and spirits)


• RSVP cards


• map and directions cards


• fish net for card box

I know this list is going to grow because I haven't thought of everything yet; in the meantime, it still feels good to scratch some things off. Here's pics of the front and the back of the RSVP card. Again, I will make them using free Vistaprint postcards.

I think they're cute! I also added the line for shuttle transportation because I need to get a head count of who's going to need it so I'll know what type of transportation to get. We have a couple of options, some cheaper than others, so it really depends on how many people are going to use it. So, we'll see. On to the next project.

Map and Directions card completed!

So, this is the list of what I have to do left:

• fan programs
• sand ceremony frame trial
• photo sharing cards
• menu cards
• table numbers
• cocktail menu (signature drinks and spirits)
• RSVP cards
• map and directions cards
• fish net for card box

I'm quite sure there's more; I'll just add it as a I remember it. For now I can scratch off the Map and Directions cards. I haven't ordered them yet because I will probably wait until I complete the RSVP cards since they will both be mailed with the invitations. Hopefully, I'll get the invites soon. That's a story for another day. So here's the DIY map and directions cards (1st draft):

This is the front:

This is the back:

I'm going to use free postcards from VistaPrint to make them. I like how they turned out but I wonder if the palm tree is too much. I'll get some opinions and go from there. Simple but fun and they tie in with my save the dates and the overall beach theme of the wedding.

This was fairly easy to do following the instructions that is. There are several resources that can help you too. On TheKnot, you can use the Map Bio. You can also use Wedding Mapper. After you customize your map on wedding mapper, they can show you how to create one for your guests. I actually used the directions from knottie themarshmalo. She created a blog entitled "The super fabulous guide to creating super fabulous pocketfolds". Not only did I use her blog for my STD pocketfolds, but I learned how to create my map here also.

*****************UPDATE*******************

After having the knotties review my work, there were a few things pointed out that I updated on the final map and direction cards. Here's the new version:

I lightened up the lake, took out a "Lake Bryan" and took the US off after the Orlando zip code. I also made the street names all the same size and closer to the streets. I also realized that the font was Arial, which hasn't been used in any of my stationary thus far. So being anal as usual, I changed the fonts of the street names to Georgia to match everything else.

On the directions portion, I made sure Rd and other abbreviations ended with a period (.) I shortened one sentence under the Holiday Inn directions because Kim made a valid point; Vistaprint will cut off anything outside the dotted lines, which draw the line as to how far the printing will go. Another important point was brought up by another Paradise Cove bride about the directions I have listed from the North: you can't actually make a left turn onto Lake Bryan Dr. without making a U-turn. I don't know how I forgot that because coming from Kissimmee we had to do the same thing. So I added the U-turn info as well.

Now, I am happy with them. Oh, someone else mentioned not using the heart bullets; I thought about it, but I used them on my STDs so I might as well carry out the same design, to a certain extent. I don't want to use numbers or dots, so hearts it is!