Afterthoughts: To DOC or not to DOC?

Two days before our wedding, I had a bit of a freak-out. No, it wasn’t about whether I wanted to get married or not. It was about whether I had gotten myself in over my head when it came to wedding décor. Ultimately, I was afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to enjoy the weekend because I was too busy setting up and then taking it all down. I think other brides who DIY a lot of things might relate to my fears a little bit. There’s definitely an up side to hiring professionals to do everything on your big day – you don’t exhaust yourself before your party even begins!

We want this...not that...

(photos  stolen from friends of me dancing and me trying not to fall asleep as the end of the night)

DIY: Chiffon Fabric Pomander

SO! You've decided to ignore my warning and you want to know how to make fabric pomanders? Well, I am not about to reinvent the wheel. I used this tutorial from Fancy Nonsense to make mine!

Photo by Kristen Taylor Photography

However, I used chiffon to make mine... so I have a few suggestions:

Great balls of CHIFFON!

There is a gap of time in wedding planning if you decide on an engagement of longer than 1 year. This gap is called “The Idle Bride Vortex”. Oh yes, it is a real thing. How many brides have said, “Oh, all my vendors are booked. There’s really nothing to do before I order the save the dates and invitations!” Answer: Most of them. Now, how many of those brides are super involved DIYers? Based on my well-educated assessment, about 33.333%. That’s right, 33.333% of all brides are susceptible to being sucked into the “The Idle Bride Vortex”. Luckily, my friend Sarah is immune to having idle hands so I can see she clearly is going to make it through wedding planning without having any “silly-overly-thought-out, but-not–well-executed” wedding project.  

I, however, was sucked into that very vortex.

A bride's brain in the idle  bride vortex.

Paddle fan ceremoney programs: A brief glimpse of bridezilla

I am detailed-oriented to a fault. So, unfortunately my mom and Wes’s mom got picked on a little bit when making the ceremony programs.

Let me state my case: 1. They kept asking me for things to do. As far as I am concerned, you get what you ask for. 2. I was so proud of my save the dates and invitations, how could I not want the ceremony programs to be just as beautiful. And, most were…

Mad for Chalkboards

Somewhere along the way, I fell head over heels for chalkboards. Could you tell? There’s just something about them! I love that you can dress them up or down. I love that you can write in a whole bunch of different fonts all over them. I love that dusty look. I find everything about them heart-warming and a bit romantic. I think Kristen Taylor (our photographer) said it best when she called our wedding “casual yet elegant” and chalkboards very much represents that idea to me. I didn’t want chalkboards to overwhelm the wedding rather I wanted them to add to the feeling and be one of a few repeating elements in the wedding.

I hope I didn’t go over the top!

Photo by Kristen Taylor Photography

Big ticket items

The week I took off from work before the wedding was definitely a necessity for all the decor for the wedding to work out. I don't think I realized how crazy of a bride I was until I saw all my wedding "stuff" crammed into my mom's poor house. Thanks Mom (again) for letting us invade your house. Thank you Matthew, my incredible nephew, for bringing so many of the boxes back to grandma's house for us!

The reason why my nephew had to help drive stuff back from Waldenwoods was...because... I had some BIG stuff for the wedding. Remember these?

Flower or no flower?

I was really pleased with my DIY projects! I had one more DIY fail, though, after the mercury glass situation. That would be my hair flower…

I had seen all these breathtaking photos of brides where their hair is adorned with beautiful hair flowers. I ordered some chiffon and organza fabric forever ago and thought I would try my hand at making one. I used this DIY tutorial that seem super easy and figured that it would turn out simply amazing. Here’s the final project:

My flimsy flower.