This is dirtndiamonds's Black Wedding!

Here I am! I have wanted to post photos for a very long time, but I was busy... busy doing NOTHING but enjoying my honeymoon and life as a wife and living with my husband and yes, just a slew of wonderful things. :)

Now that the stress is over I'm SO excited to share details about everything that went into making our wedding what it was. I wanted to post about all the additional DIY projects I did leading up to the wedding but I realized quickly I was RUNNING OUT OF TIME and needed to focus my energy on the actual DOING of them instead of talking about them, haha!

I was able to finish most of my projects with the help of my amazing bridesmaids and family, but some had to be tossed or minimalized. In the end the day turned out GORGEOUS and amazing.

it was the most stressful week of my life before the wedding but then it was all sunshine and happiness, lol. I guess you could say it was worth it but the day before and day of the wedding I was regretting all my DIY work.

A week before the wedding one of my flower vendors told me my flowers (anemones) wouldn't be available and to choose a substitute. I didn't want a substitute and was so stressed but knew I'd live with whatever I got. Well my mom called them and they ended up sending them anyway, which resulted in about 2 bunches that actually looked the way they were supposed to and even then only after some rushed TLC by myself. The others looked very strange but we found a way to used them in the centerpieces, luckily I had enough "pretty" ones for my bouquet, which was my goal.

When the flowers arrived I followed all the info I'd been reading for MONTHS before about hydrating them and such. Even then only some of them turned out looking open and pretty pink enough. Luckily my bouquet and the bridesmaids looked pretty good. The rest went into the centerpieces and looked fine.

FRIDAY NIGHT the NIGHT before the wedding, I realized all our reception music was missing. I couldn't find my drive with all the music. I also realized I was missing my shoes. I STILL haven't found them. I FREAKED OUT. I was trying not to stress out my bridesmaids or turn into a bridezilla. We didn't have internet at our new apartment yet, so I took my husband's laptop and drove near the main office at 2 a.m. to try to download some of the songs so we'd have music at the wedding.

I BROKE DOWN in my car and just freaking SOBBED. lol. It sounds sad, but I needed to let it out. I was just a MESS. I didn't know what to do and it sort of felt like a nightmare. The only thing I wanted was my sweetheart. So I drove to my honey's and called his cell just PRAYING he would answer. I woke him up and he let me in. I bawled on his shoulder and he was the SWEETEST he rallied together all his CD's and laid with me on the sofa all night while I downloaded music and did what I could to create some playlists.

At the time it was horrid, lol, but I realized that it's one of the most memorable wedding moments of the entire week/weekend. It proved to me how perfect we are for one another and the next morning, even though we had some stressful moments, I was refreshed and at peace knowing that nothing mattered except that we were going to be able to share such an amazing day.

It turned out SO beautiful. I can't believe it. My family and my attendants and my friends just were SO helpful. I can't say it enough.

I'll probably share more stories as I share the rest of my details and DIY projects in the coming weeks. I plan to share MANY resources for brides and hopefully others can benefit from what I learned and what I share. Thank you all for being here for me and I hope you can let me be here for you. :) I love weddings and now that mine's done I'm SO EXCITED to be able to help others instead of stress about my own lol. I'll also be posting vendor reviews and the like as I go.

Love you guys!

THANK YOU!

P.S. - More photos will come when the photographers (I work with them and got a great deal, so I'm not going to be pushy! haha) are finished editing them.

<3

So my mom has sort of taken the front seat finding candy for our sweet bar. I'm SO EXCITED! It's going to be so much more overflowing than I even expected, haha. She's amazing. I'm SO glad that's not me worrying about all this! After all I Only have TEN DAYS LEFT!!!!

Dying here.

---~Candy Sweet Bar Items~---

White M&M’s
Pink M&M’s
Assorted box chocolates
Pink wrapped chocolate kisses
Pink & White Sugar Gummy Squares
Cheese-balls
White Chocolate Dipped Oreo Balls
White Cookies
Pink Cookies
Oreos
Pink Foiled Color Chocolate Hearts
Whoppers
Good “n Plenty
Custom Monogram Wrapped Chocolate Squares
Black/White Salt Water Taffy
Pink Salt Water Taffy
Chocolate pretzels
Chocolate Pink Sprinkled Droplet candies
Black Licorice
Little Pink & White Swirl Lollipops (48)
Large Pink & White Swirl Lollipops (24)
Large Black & White Spiral Lollipops (24)
Neapolitan Coconut Candy
Pink Chocolate Dutch Mint Balls
Strawberry Chocolate Truffles
Pink Swirling Hard Cady Discs
Black & White Candy Sticks (80)
Pink Rock Candy Stick (60)
Strawberry (pink) Wafer Cookies
Chocolate Wafer Cookies
Tuxedo Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

I used another of those flowers to make this headband for my little flower girl, Kerrigan Lane! She is going to look so byoo-fee-ul (as she would say it) : )

I used wide black, wired ribbon to make a bow behind the flower, sewed them all together and glued to a simple, thin headband.

These flowers were made the same way I made the ones I used for the pomanders. They are layered slightly different and I glued a pretty button in the centers. They'll be on black ribbons (1/2" probably) and worn on the wrist. These two are for the mothers. I plan to make similar flowers to be worn by others involved in the wedding but they will me made so they can be worn in any way they want and may look different and with smaller buttons.

Here is the dress we chose for the junior bridesmaids, my sister Brianna and my FH's cousin, Rachel. Rachel was here to visit over the weekend and we settled on this as the final choice! Now I just have to get my sister's and we're good to go! :)

So I just want to shoot myself... I had a HUGE post written out with a tutorial of sorts and EVERYTHING! Ugh.

Well this is the first of many posts I hope to be sharing with you girls now that I finally had a day to photograph all the DIY projects I've been working on!

I wanted to make pomanders for my juniors to carry. I originally wanted real roses but I'm doing my own flowers and was worried it was too big a task to add to the fact that I've never realy done flowers in my life, haha. I have made pomanders from silk flowers but I'm not really a fan of them, I wanted something more charming. I am using silk for my aisle decor, but I wanted something a step higher for my junior maids.

I found two alternatives to floral pomanders that used fabric.
Fabric Poms
and
Flower Hair Clips

I still want to try the first one sometime, but instead I used the technique explained in the 2nd link to make 70+ flowers for 2 pomanders and a few other projects you'll be seeing on my blog soon.

Basically the technique uses heat and circles of fabric from polyester or poly-blend materials to curl the edges of the fabric circles. You use varying widths of circles and stack them. I tried to fashion mine after light pink anemones and used corsage pins to pin each one into my foam ball. Seriously read the tutorial in the link, it's inspiring :)

It takes awhile to make the flowers but it's actually very easy and affordable. I probably spent a few bucks per pomander for the fabric and ribbon.

If we have yet to cross paths enough on Wedding by Color you need to be aware of the fact that I LOVE monograms! I love looking at them, making them, I dream about them. I have made some monograms for other WBC brides in the past and have helped some of you with your DIY monograms. I played around and came up with these designs in Photoshop and decided to give away some custom monograms to the first 5 brides who post a comment and tell me the following things:

Your First Name
Your Fiance's First Name
Your New Last Name
Your Wedding Colors/Theme
Your Favorite Design Of Those Posted Here
Another Bride on WBC Who Inspires You

Available Designs:
{see images to left)

If you don't make it into the first 5 commenters then please still comment and if you'd still like a custom monogram from one of the listed designs I'll make it for you for $5 though Pay Pal. And just another plug for myself, I am a designer so I am always available for invitations, monograms (fully custom monograms are $15/ea), Programs and more.

I really do love you guys so hope you enjoy. <3

This is the biggest wedding project I have tackled so far. It took weeks. LITERALLY WEEKS lol. I have explained it all in more steps and detail for those who are interested on my blog. Click here to read about it on our official blog. I created the design the fold and printed, cut, folded, taped and assembled all 120 of them! I used paper from Paper and More and I was so impressed with their service and products so I definitely recommend them.

Here are some photos throughout the process. Check the gallery to the left that is included with the post to see more or click on the link to our official blog.

<3







ALL DONE! :) It was a long and tiring process but I'm happy I did it. Comments and questions are very welcome haha.

Ooops... I accidentally deleted this post haha... Will update soon.

Well I think all I said was that I'd been planning on this project for quite awhile and I finally did it! haha. I had seen these cake knife and server at Hobby Lobby only days after the proposal but decided to see what else I could find. Turns out $5 is a deal (duh lol) and I had to wait until just a month or so ago before they were 50% of again. I'd been waiting and planning and I finally was able to dress these beautiful babies up!

I used left over beads from my bridesmaids earrings I made and blck ribbon at the suggestion of my very crafty younger sister who said it make them stand out more. I agree. Hope you do too! Let me know if you have questions. Oh, also, I used elastic string to lace the beads on and small jewelry crimps to keep them in place and finish off the strand at the back. Hot glue was also useful to secure the ribbon. :) Love the little bow in the back at the bottom

So! In the last few hours I've seen THREE WBC brides post about this idea or something similar and I'm excited because I've been wanting to get my design finished before I posted all this, but I think this is a good time to post what I have! I love brides who have creative ideas and I just want us to all pool our inspirations so here are some useful links and photos and resources I've found. Feel free to message me or email me at design@silverdoves.com if you would like more info or files.

Real Wedding Inspiration

Etsy Resource

Colorful Option

Inspiration

Great inspiration and products

Different Colors

Check out "birds of a feather"

So there are some great resources. Check the "images" to the left for tree design ideas and resources.

I looked online but cannot find those awesome thumbprint/leaf shaped pads. I already bought mine 50% off at Hobby Lobby in 2 green colors that I liked, but that size/shape of the ones shown in some of those examples are just PERFECT. :)

EDIT: The amazing bride s00n2bemrsb0lton found the ink pads! :) So here is a link
Amazing ink pads haha

We purchased a wrap for my ring Saturday!

Right after the proposal my FH couldn't stop thinking/talking about/looking for rings! He found his and took me to jewelry stores every weekend back and forth. I started to get sick of it, lol, but he was so cute. We kept seeing the same things. I liked them all but didn't love anything.

We stopped looking and I realized recently that the time was getting a little late, haha, so we decided to go look again and settle our decision. While at Jared waiting to be helped we saw a new wrap we hadn't seen before. We tried a couple single bands that I started to consider to save money but they were actually more money than the wraps!!! I guess because they have more diamonds? Anyway. . . So we had him take it out for us to try it and it fit PERFECTLY! See, the ring my FH bought me is a single diamond on a thin band but it has a slight shoulder/slope leading up the stone and most of the wraps don't fit quite right, requiring it to be shaved down when we would have it attached. This one fit EXACTLY. And it was just BEAUTIFUL. Other wraps we'd looked at only blended the ring in, this one really EMPHASIZES it. We bought it right there and walked out the store with it in hand!

Here is a photo of the ring with the wrap. The light rays were sort of an accident but it looks so cool! Haha. :)

Hey everyone! It's been SO FREAKING LONG since I've updated on here. I've been going back and forth from stressed to excited to busy to bored and I feel like all my DIY are right in the middle, I've started on them but not finished many of them completely. But I hope to change all the silence around here and you can expect to see some new posts now! I might even post more than one a day! :)

First thing... we finally found an apartment in the city! I'm so excited... we've been looking for a few weeks now and it was a bit stressful since the pricerange we'd been hoping for seemed like a dream. The prices we kept finding for a 1bed, 1 bath was around the $650-$750 range and we were hoping to keep it way under $700 for something of that size. We had some appointments to look at places Saturday morning and at the last minute after our final scheduled appointment we decided to drive around and look. We saw one place that was close to his parents and work and we figured, hey, we'll just go check it out.

We first took a look at their 1 bedrooms because we'd accepted that we couldn't afford bigger than that. Then we found out they were running a special to get 2 months free, pro-rated over a 12 month lease. This brought their TWO bedroom, TWO bath option from over $800/mo to $691/mo!!! It was beautiful and spacious and just too perfect so we signed that day. It was also the only place that was oriented the way we liked (I know that sounds weird but we both felt like we liked places more that opened up to the right when you walk in, instead of the left and for SOME reason, all the available apts up until then were the other way!!!) ALSO it is on the lowest level, so easy for moving AND it happens to be a corner unit so we get 12 extra square feet and a 3rd window in the bedroom. At no extra cost! I am SO excited.

By far the best is the way that Steven keeps going on and on about how happy he is and how excited he is that we'll have a place together and it makes me happy and bubbly, too! haha.

We're set to move me in April 16 and he'll move his stuff in the week before the wedding. The timing and pricing are working out great and the management seem wonderful! We even have this great Thai restaurant across the street from the complex and we tried it out that night. It's going to be a challenge not to order some Phad Thai every night when we're living there!!! lol.

So that's a big one done. I'll be posting more about what I've been up to but here a few other things that are getting done:

• Finished the bridesmaids earrings
• Purchased a cake cutting set and strung some beads to decorate them with ($5/hobby lobby on sale w00t!)
• Had my lingerie party
• LOST 15 POUNDS!!! aaaaahhhhhhhh! Love it!
• FH's parents offered to pay for catering so we don't have to find a way for our friend to keep the food warm and serve it without a kitchen at the venue (They are SO nice to us)
• Printed everything for the invites and cut 90% of the pieces out
• Made a practice DIY fabric flower that turned out GREAT and is the inspiration/building foundation for many projects I plan to do soon.
• Took a look at the venue with my daddy, the engineer so we could figure out how to get the pretty things to look the way I envision in my head. haha.
• Decided almost for sure on the flowers/centerpieces and made it work with our budget.
• Probably a million other things but I can't think of them right now.

w00t! SO EXCITED TO BE MARRIED!

I've been going back and forth lately trying to decide if I should make earrings for my girls as part of their gift. I really wanted to and making them seemed cheaper and more personal than buying them.

When I went to Hobby Lobby last weekend to check out their sales and buy other things on my list I realized all their jewelry stuff I would need was on sale. So I decided to go for it. I also bought the actual pretty, pearly things at Michaels the next day.

I've never made jewelry, unless you count braided friendship bracelets, lol, so this was intimidating to me.

Last night I sat down to make them and after about crying when I broke the first 2 wires trying to secure them to the hook earrings I finally got some help from my brilliant dad (why does he know EVERYTHING? haha) and I was on fire! lol.

Because I am completely dumb sometimes I spent literally hours surveying all the jewelry tools and parts to find exactly what I needed at the best prices. Things like the earring hooks and bead topper things came in a pack of 8. I thought to myself "ok... 7 bridesmaids... that's perfect! I'll have 1 extra just in case" .... Even when I was at Michaels the next day it didn't occur to me that each bridesmaid had TWO EARS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so ashamed of myself, lol. So I made 7 earrings and will need to get a few more supplies before I can finish them off.

<3 B

... perfume. lol.

My FMIL works at a department store and they're doing inventory these days so many of the departments try to get rid of all the extra "free gift" items they have lying around. This happy little thing was one of them and my FMIL brought it home to me along with a treasure trove of awesomeness. It just seemed the perfect look and color for my wedding day clutch... and I didn't even plan to have one!!! :)

It's a TINGE purple-ish, but I am certainly not complaining

She also scored a box of keychain lockets that I can give as gifts to my bridesmaids and people who are helping out.

So excited!

PS - the pics are HUGE but it seems that when I edit them to make them smaller, etc... in Photoshop, WBC won't upload them!

Hey! I had this all written then the browser crashed. :P

So these are all photos from my session with Kenny earlier this week. I absolutely LOVE them! They turned out so well! I spent some time in Photoshop today messing around with them. I'm just so excited to share them! :D I wish I could show Steven, but alas... he wants to wait until the day to see my dress. I'm having my official bridal session with the photographer I work for later so these are just some fun, edgy ones we did that might end up in a local magazine.

For some reason WBC never uploads things I save as JPG from Photoshop, so these are GIF which is why my skin looks funky sometimes and stuff lol.


PS - I forgot one! I just added it on the end

I found my shoes a month or so ago and I although they were more $$$ than the ones I'd been planning to buy I just couldn't stop thinking about them! So my FH and I bought them together over the holidays with his Nordstrom discount since he's an employee.

This shoe is perfect for me because:
• It has a low heel so it'll be comfortable
• Even though I normally am not a fan of wedges these only look like wedges from the side b/c they're so narrow, from the top they look like peek-toe heels. :)
• I ALSO hate the way flats look on me b/c it give me toe cleavage. I think heels are so flattering but was worried about the comfort, etc...
• They don't have a pointy heel so they won't dig in the dirt during the outdoor photos and ceremony.
• They're a perfect matte satin, which is the perfect fabric to me for the black in our wedding. I'm not a huge fan of shiny satin and these are SO soft and smooooooothe.
• They have a bow, which I wanted. I like small cute bows :)
• They're super comfy
• My FH immediately gasped when he saw them and I love when we both have the same taste. :)

So there you have it! So glad to be getting things done.

oh!... • and I love how dainty they are. I keep imagining Cinderella putting them on. lol.

Be looking for my next post soon! :)

I finally got my dress right on January 1. It was so exciting. I definitely realized I want to lose more weight though. I want a sexy back with this baby. :) So I came home and had to try it on for my family. I'm posting photos my sister took on her phone. Eh. :P But... that brings me to the exciting news I have to announce!!!

My friend and co-worker who took our engagement photos has asked me to do a bridal shoot on Monday and one of the photos could end up on the cover of a local magazine! I think that would be SO fun. So I'm ALSO attaching some of the inspiration we both came up with for some fun, edgy shots in my dress. EEEeeek! :)

PS - I finally am getting things accomplished so I will probably post many more entries here before the day is out. :)

Oh... and the pic of me in my dress is the first on there but it's not the key photo obviously... Even though my fiance never gets on here I'm still cautious. lol.

So my friend and bridesmaid, Teresa, is expecting another baby next year! She'll be about 5 months along at the wedding. I'm so happy for her! She and her husband made the decision to have another baby just recently, so I knew this was a possibility and I'm just excited for her.

I do have to decide what to do about the dress, though. Should I have a talented seamstress see if she can alter the dress we picked? She'll be about 5 months along at the wedding... Or should we just find a different dress for her entirely? Anyone else had any experience with this who can offer suggestions!?

The dress we chose is shown in the post below...

I feel like I blog 3-5 times on the SAME things. lol. "thinking of dresses" "shopping for dresses" "finding dresses" and finally FINALLY we have a dress.

Here it is, girls! :) I posted it in my last dress post about shopping so it's the same photo. It's the OFFICIAL dress now. I love it and all my girls do, too, so I guess that's what's important! :)

The style: Bill Levkoff #372
Click here to go to House of Brides (where I found the cheapest price)

I'm having the girls pick their own black shoes and I'm planning a little something special for jewelry.

To see this post as it was originally, visit our official blog here.

Hey everyone!
I had a fellow bride who wondered if I had any pointers for designing your own monograms and I thought hey, why don't I blog about it? :)
I have a love for monograms, I don't know why. Perhaps it stems from my love for weddings or just love for design. Mostly I like the idea that you can say something about the couple with just a few simple letters and shapes. I'm not going to be able to give a step-by-step how-to since everyone will be using different programs, etc... I just want to give some pointers and hopefully inspire you. I'm just going to start rambling now, so take what you can from it!

Software
Obviously to create a monogram you will need some sort of software to create it in. I use Photoshop, but unless you have connections or a healthy pocketbook, this might not be an option for you. If you're willing to put a little learning time into it a good alternative is Gimp. It's free to download and use as you will. Other options are Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, etc... Powerpoint will let you move things around a little better and overlap, so many people prefer this to Word for designs.

Fonts
I like to use a combination of simple serif or san-serif fonts and script. I'll call the simple fonts "base" fonts and the script fonts.. well... "script" fonts. Many of my fonts are free and downloaded from dafont.

Base Fonts:
Optimus PrincepsCheboygan
Organic ElementsChocolate BoxThere are many more, those are just some I use often.

Script Fonts:
Stephanie MarieMiama
Scriptina
Black Jack
Mutlu Ornamental
Jellyka, Saint-Andrew's Queen
I'm sure there are more there, also, but those are ones I usually remember to try.
A good site besides dafont.com to try is Fonts for Peas. They have some GREAT handwriting fonts.

Flourishes
Another way to make a monogram unique is to add flourishes to your design, or perhaps just a simple symbol that represents a couple. This can be anything from an ornamental swoosh to swirls to a little feather or heart or house or flower or even just a simple line. I have shared a link for some great resources below.
DeviantArt
- Great place to download free brushes, shapes, etc... especially for Photoshop and Gimp

Techniques
Now here are some basic tips and tricks I use when creating monograms that I think can be useful to brides you wish to design their own. I'll try to show photos when I can, either of previous designs I've done or a sample monogram done for this blog.
1. I like to start by typing either the first letter of the couple's new last name or the initials of their first names. I usually start by making them the same font, etc... and I like to highlight the letters and cycle through some fonts to see what they look like applied to the specific letters.
2. Once I find a font I like (and sometimes I combine both this process and the first) I'll move both letters around to see how they fit into one another. As a general guideline you should put the last name initial in the middle and the individuals on both sides, the brides on the left and groom's on the right. This can be changed if they don't look or sound good that way. For example, if I had done that with our monogram it would have looked a bit like "BS" so I flipped them to read "SB." Consider things like this and how different letters balance each other out.
3. If you have a symbol you would specifically like to add you can do that next. Move it around to see how it looks in different spots. If you don't have a centralized letter, such as the initial of a last name, you can use a small significant graphic or even just an ampersand to add more visual appeal.
4. I like to use a different font for the "and" or ampersand for contrast. Probably my favorite ampersand is from the font "Miama" it's straightforward and yet elegant and isn't too italicized.
5. Use colors to add contrast, as well. Make the "and" either a different color or a more subtle shad of your dominant color. I like to make it 30-50% of my main color.
6. If you have letters that overlap, especially when they are in different colors, it sometimes looks too busy. There are two methods I like to use to make it look cleaner.
- Add a stroke (thick border around your letters) that is the same color as your background (usually white) on the TOP layer. This will give space around it and let it be seen better.
- Intertwine the letters by using an eraser or mask, etc... to make them look like they are wrapping in and out and around each other.
7. Monograms seem to look best to me when they are able to stand on their own. It should be able to look good smack in the middle of a page or at the corner, etc... sometimes if you give it too much imbalance, even if it looks good it could look wrong on things you decide to put the monogram on.
8. Depending on the monogram it may look better if you "close it off" by adding a border around all or part of the design or putting mirrored flourishes on 2 of the sides, etc...

Examples
Please refer to the uploaded images
I hope this blog will be able to help some of you brides out there who are wanting to make their own monogram. If you'd like to talk to me more, feel free to comment or message me. I love talking (especially weddings :D) I'm also always available for custom design work if you don't want to bother with it. If you message me or email me at dirtndiamonds@silverdoves.com I can quote you a price.

Now go out there and make your beautiful monograms like a pro!

-B

I've been excited about making my own garters and I finally sat down to make them last night. They didn't turn out QUITE as awesome as I imagined, but I'm kinda bad about having high expectations for DIY projects, etc... then not being able to live up to them. lol. I originally planned for the black and white one with the thick black lace to be my featured one that I kept, etc... but after I made them I think I like the one with the pink lace better for me to keep. What do you girls think? I'm also thinking of trying a few more. I love this and I'm thinking of making some to sell, too. I just have TERRIBLE seams, so I'd feel bad selling something. lol. So tell me what you think. Also... I'm not sure what embellishments I should add to the black and white one? Here are some relevant links:

My primary resource for the "how-to"
My favorite Garter Shop On Etsy

Garter 1:
Black 1" ribbon (double sided) and lace I found I must have purchased awhile ago. It was a fortuitous find.


Garter 2:
White Satin with black lace and folded black, satin ribbon. Any ideas for embellishment?


Next project up: Flower girl box!

I finished the design and ordered them today. In the end it ended up with a cost of $38.04 for 250 4x6 postcards, including shipping for front in color, back in B/W, UV coating on front. I ordered them from nextdayflyers.com. if anyone's interested

Here's the design we ended up going with. A slightly modified version of my first choice with a matching back in B/W

I FINALLY have something to show for my save-the-dates. I haven't shown the man yet, so it could change in terms of style and pics, but I wanted to show my WBC community what I have so far! The featured picture is probably my favorite, but I'm not sure if it goes with the rest of my wedding "look" since it has so much brown in the tones. Our colors are white and black (and some grey) with light pinks. It is ALSO in a barn so I've been trying to find ways to mix my stark colors with the warm, laid back theme of a barn wedding. I love the whole aged look with letterpress type styles, etc... and that is why I really love this first one. The others are based more on my wedding's elegant look (and one that is a mix of the two)

I would LOVE to hear any suggestions about what I should change, etc... I design these myself so I can change anything I want pretty easily. It's designed to a 5x7 postcard but we'll probably make them 4x6 for postage sake. WEe'll either print cheaply on glossy card stock or (if I can get my way) on linen.

First of all...

My best friend in the whole world got engaged last night!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully we'll all be seeing her on here. I was SO happy he did it while she was visiting so she could celebrate with her family (and me :D) I am WAY excited for them. I expect to be working on wedding stuff for them too.

I also have ANOTHER friend who got engaged on Saturday! They're dropping like flies! :) So that's 2 weddings I'll be involved in and I plan to be helping them. Sigh. It'll be crazy but fun.

So I have DROPPED THE BALL! I have to get going on my DIY projects because there are SO MANY OF THEM!

Here are the ones for which I have all the materials, etc... and just need to do. I'll probably do them after Thanksgiving.

- Save the dates - Design and print
(Hoping to design and order today)
- Garter
- Flower Girl Box

Others that need done soon but I don't have materials for:
- Ring Bearer Box/Chest
- Cupcake Stand
- Shoe buckles
- Hair Fascinator
- Invitations
- Programs
- Menus
- Table Numbers
- Hanging Door Monograms
- Thumb print Tree
- Cake Knife/Server
- Bridesmaids Canvas Totes - Gifts
- Earrings for me and girls
- Hair Fascinators for girls*
- Junior Maids Pomanders*
- Paper Flower Garlands*
- Veil*
- Bathroom Basket
- Guest Welcome Baskets
- Test Treat Bar Snack Recipes
- Cupcake Trial Run
- Flowers for Cupcakes
- Backdrop for Treat Table
- Photo Booth Set

So those are what I'm hoping to do within the next 5+ Months! Not to mention flowers, which is a whole other thing.

Pray for me girls! Once Thanksgiving is over I am DONE being lazy. This also means I will be working out EVERY DAY after the holiday and will be back on my diet.

* are ones that are maybes at this point

Hey! So we went shopping Saturday for dresses. 90% of the time we spent was finding the shops, lol. The boutique I found my bridal gown at had moved and was in a VERY inconvenient place with NO signs. One of the stores (the only one I could find in the area that carries Mori Lee) was having a sample sale on bridal gown and didn't have the bridesmaid dresses out at the time. The couple places we went to we made quick work with four girls trying on like lightning speed. I'm attaching some of the photos of my girls from the day as well as a couple of our favs they tried on. :)

That night we went to see New Moon and it was AWESOME! It worked out SO well and that movie was IN-CRED-I-BLE!!!! :)

It was a great day all in all and I'm so excited to have my BFF here this whole week.

So 5 of my 7 maids and I are going shopping to look at dresses for them on the 21st. I'm SO excited, we are all. I've been waiting for my best friend, the MOH, to come into town so we could do this and so I've had quite a bit of time to shop... :) I've been all over the place online and have so many "maybes" and I'll be glad to get it settled once and for all. So I'm attaching some of my favorites as images on this post. As you can see, many of them I crudely changed the colors to black to match my vision. :)

PS - I want to go into this with as much detail/info as as I can, so if you see one of the photos to the left and it doesn't have the designer/store name as the caption feel free to let me know if you have that info! :) Thanks!

Here are some of my FAV favs big:
[edit: I took off the big pictures since we have already chosen the dress! You can look at the pics on the left to see the ones I liked at the beginning]

Yay! I have some favorites to show you from our engagement session with Kenny! I love them!

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