Things.

So, things are starting to come together. I've knocked a lot off of my list. Save the dates, bridesmaid dresses, our officiant-which was a huge weight off my shoulders!

The bridesmaid dresses finally came together, after a lot of deliberation...with myself. They're definitely not the first, second, or even third choice of mine-the bridal store had a dress similar to the dress I went in to see for a lot cheaper, and thinner material (I picked floor length dresses for them). I have also given my girls the option to pick out their own shoes. I'm hoping this will create a very diverse collection of footwear that will add some fantastic character to our wedding : )

We met with our officiant last weekend, and we couldn't be happier. For just about all of our vendors, we only ever had one option. Most of them were absolute no questions (cupcake maker and DJ), and others, like our photographer and caterer, were just a lucky pick (mostly through word of mouth). Everything has worked out that way so far, so our officiant was essentially the same way. We met with Brian, who works through this great company. Brian actually lives in Hudson, which is only a few miles from us and our wedding venue; so that's definitely nice.

And finally, in an effort to trim an inch or two off of my waist and hips, I've taken up...dancing. Now, when I say dancing, I really mean playing the video game Just Dance 3. For those of you that don't know what this game is, it's for the Wii, and you basically just follow the character dancing on the screen. I started playing it as a way to have fun, but they have this 7 Day Challenge feature that's equivalent to 30 minutes of walking, running, or swimming. So far, I've lost a little over half an inch! I've only had the game for about a month, and I only just started the challenge, but it's definitely something I'll stick with. I never feel like I'm working out when I play it, but by the end of it, I'm sweating and feel like I just finished a run. Totally worth the money!

We will hopefully be looking at suits/tuxes for Tyler in the next week or two. So groom/groomsmen related details soon?

Bridesmaids.

I recently mentioned that I had a bridesmaid craft to blog about. Well, here it is : )

Up until this, I had not asked all my bridesmaids to be in the wedding, so I needed a cute way to do so since not all of them live near me. Bridesmaid invite boxes! I couldn't make them as big and elaborate as I had in my mind, but I think they were sufficient. I bought square papier-mâché boxes, chipboard letters, tulle, card stock, mason jars, burlap, potpourri, notebooks, and bookmarks. I only bought the bookmarks because they were in my colors; they serve no real purpose, haha.




I started out with chip board letters for all of my bridesmaids.
M-Michelle (my sister)
E-Elise (future sister-in-law)
P-Pam (friend)
J-Jen (friend)
J-Jena (friend)










I took these letters and painted all of them turquoise. Then I painted stripes on them in chartreuse. I really wanted to do a swirly/damask design, but I didn't have enough patience for five letters.






Once the letters were dry, I used clear elmers glue to place them on the corners on the box tops.














I wanted to try a craft with mason jars, because I was hoping to incorporate them in the wedding somehow. I bought plain mason jars at Hobby Lobby, neon food coloring, clear Elmer's glue, and burlap. I decided to "dye" them turquoise. 










Mason Jar Dye:
1 tsp glue
1 1/2 tsp water
2 drops teal food coloring
1/2 drop neon green food coloring.

I mixed this all together in a solo cup, dipped a paintbrush in the mixture, and started painting the inside of the jars. I set them on newspaper upside down so the extra could drip off. Once the excess was mostly gone, I took a moist paint brush and wiped it over the inside to make sure everything was even. I let them dry overnight right side up. 


















Next, I cut squares out of burlap, and glued them to the mason jar lids (only the outside rim. I left the tops off). 












Once they were glued, I took chartreuse colored ribbon and tied a bow around the lid. I bought some potpourri to place inside of them. I purposely left the tops off of the jars so you could smell the potpourri without having to take the lid off. 

I made some chocolate chip cookies to send to each of them, as well. I took brown paper bags, folded the tops over and used a heart shaped hole punch to tie blue ribbon through.

 I found some small notebooks I thought I could throw into the mix. (I really wanted to get them mini-day planners, but I couldn't find any that I liked enough.) 

 So, here inside the box so far, we have 
1.) Mason jar potpourri
2.) Notebook
3.) Bookmark
4.) Bag of cookies

<--Now for the "will you be my bridesmaid card". It's simply some kraft paper card stock, sparkly blue cardstock, green cardstock cut with scrapbooking scissors, and scrap booking letters. It looked a lot better in my head, but here they are :-->

<--...and finally, the end result. I used lime and blue tulle to tie the boxes shut. Overall, for 5 bridesmaid, a pretty cheap project, and definitely a really good project to get me into wedding crafts. -->






As for other wedding news, I think I found a florist today, and the bridesmaid dresses, and (!) our Save the Dates came in the other day; they'll be in the mail by the end of the week. Eek!