It's Raining It's Pouring

With all the rainy weather we've been having in Kansas recently I started wondering what the weather will be like the day of the wedding. Virginia weather is so unpredictable. I love the saying "if you don't like the weather in Virginia just wait an hour, it will be something different" because it is so true. In my typical fashion, I began fretting over rainy wedding day weather, that is until I saw these...


(Laura and Ryan's Wedding: Braedon Photography via Once Wed)

You may recognize Laura from my previous cardigan post. I am obsessed with the rustic, charming, preppy feel of their wedding. And what is not to love about those classic black golf umbrellas?

(Michelle and Brian's Wedding: Heather Forsythe via Real Southern Weddings)

Those navy galoshes are SUPER cute especially with the puppy dog print.

(Shira and Geoff's Wedding: Robert Sukrachandvia Snippet & Ink)

This couple found the humor in their rainy wedding day and even featured a festive yellow umbrella which translates to "Sh*t, it's raining".


(Joanna and Alex's Wedding: Max Wanger via Once Wed)

I am in LURVE with that AH-FREAK-IN'-MAZINGLY gorgeous reflection picture of the happy couple. The rain and clouds certainly couldn't overshadow the joy of their day.

(Mindy and Jonathan's Wedding: Susan Stripling via Green Wedding Shoes)

Seriously? How adorably beautiful is this couple? I love the retro feel of their day with the vintage car and how great is his suit? I especially love the simplistic and rustic feel of their galoshes. They remind me of the Cranberry Spray commercials.

I feel prepared (at least mentally) for whatever weather our day should bring although we may need to make a last minute pit stop for umbrella's if the occasion should arise.

What are you doing to prepare for the weather on your day?

New David's Bridal Wedding Dress Seeking Beautiful Bride

A NWT David's Bridal white satin pick-up ballgown with draped bodice, dropped waist, and chapel train (Style P9599)is seeking a beautiful bride to escort it down the aisle.

No alterations have been made to the dress. There is a small make-up smudge on the inside of the bodice from trying the dress on unassisted at home. It can be easily cleaned and is not visible when the dress is on. I am a street size 4/5 and the dress' label size is an 8. The veil is a finger-tip length white one-tier, U-shaped veil made of tulle and featuring a satin corded edge and sturdy wire comb. (NWT, Approx. 40” long, DB Style 857)

This is a beautiful dress but ultimately wasn't the right dress for my wedding. I paid $500 for just the dress and am asking $350 for the dress, dress bag, veil, and crinoline slip. Help her get her moment in the spotlight!

All reasonable offers will be entertained.

Model photos:






*All photos were taken directly from the David's Bridal website

My photos:

Milk-a-WHAT?

Through wedding planning I have discovered that some everyday items that aren't normally pricey when purchased in wedding volume becoming EXTREMELY pricey. Take candles for instance, normally you spend $2-$30 for one or a small set BUT when you have to purchase 2-4 for each table and you have 15-18 tables and you need still need containers to put the candles in or on.... let's just say it adds up quickly.

So in an effort to conserve some funds Ryan and I stopped by some second hand stores in search of some votive holders, pillar candle holders, or other candle containers.

Let's just say we found Milk Glass Mecca! Look at the fantastic pieces we were able to pick up for less than $40...

So what does all this milk glass have to do with our search for candles and candle holders? Well I channeled my inner Martha and decided to attempt to turn them all into candles. My favorite finds were these ceiling fan globes which we will use to cover votive candles...

For the rest of the milk glass I picked up 20lbs of paraffin wax, a variety of different sized wicks, and a wax thermometer from Hobby Lobby. To start I cleaned all the pieces really well with soap and water, using a little goo gone where needed, and allowed them to completely dry. Using a hammer I then broke the slabs of paraffin wax into more managable sized pieces. I improvised a double boiler using a medium sized saucepan and a large pyrex bowl. The trick here is that when you add water to the saucepan you do not want it to touch the bottom of the bowl and you want the bowl to fit snuggly on the saucepan to prevent too much steam from escaping. I then started throwing chunks of wax in the bowl and waited for it to melt.

I attached the wicks to the bottom of the containers by dipping them into the melted wax and then quickly centered them on the bottom of the milk glass. This may take a few dips to accumulate enough wax to stick and don't worry if you misplace the wick, they come up pretty easily.

Finally I poured all the candles being sure to leave adequate amounts of wick available. For wicks that wouldn't stay straight I used some dowel rods from another project to help stabilize them until they were set. You could easily use pencils, food skewers, or any other relatively long and sturdy object you have around your house.



Lessons learned:
-The wax thermometer is a joke don't waste your money. Mine broke after a few hours.
-Some candles shrink up significantly after drying be prepared to pour candles multiple times.
-Get a cheapo saucepan the you can throw away after the project as the wax splatters everywhere and I'm still having a hell of time getting it off my good saucepan.
-Purchase some Goo Gone it really helped remove wax splatters from my floor, countertops, and stove.
-Do this on a day when you can be at home for a while as it takes some time and can't be left unattended
-Be VERY careful not to drip wax on your hot burners. Paraffin wax is flammable at higher temperatures and will catch on fire if it hits a scalding burner. (Not that I would know this from personal experience or anything... I swear).

Time: This project took the better part of the day but had a lot of down time while waiting for the wax to melt.
Difficulty Level: Easy
Cost:
Milk Glass- 40 pieces for ~$40
Wax Thermometer- $7.00
Wicks (for 40 of varying sizes)- $9.00
Paraffin Wax (20lbs)- $30.00
Total Cost: $86.00 or $2.15 per candle

Have you found any second hand store finds? What did you end up using them for?

DIY Invitations Part VI: Happy Trails to You

There they go...



PS. Look how happy he is. :)

DIY Invitations Part V: What's on the Outside Matters Too

When it came to the outer envelopes we felt it was important to have them all hand addressed. A calligrapher was not in the budget so we had to come up with a way to improvise. While browsing Wedding Bee I came across Mrs. Labrador's post about fauxligraphy...and thought I can do that!

Some Fauxligraphy Tips:
1. This works best on non-white envelopes. For some reason, no matter what marker/pen I used on the white envelopes the ink soaked in around printed text and was evident that I traced.

2. Textured paper makes tracing soooo much harder! Try to avoid having to trace on textured paper it made my pen strokes look all the more sloppy.

3. Test out your writing apparatus A LOT. I can say this enough: practice, practice, practice. Practice writing each letter, practice using the marker/pen it really made a difference in the quality of my work.

I pulled up every calligraphy font I could find on my computer and on dafont and started practicing. The Mr. even tried his hand at some practice tracing but it wasn't a pretty sight. ;) We eventually settled on the same font Mrs. Labrador used.

After some trial and error (trying every color in the rainbow) I found the best way to print on the black envelopes and still see the print was to use LIME GREEN text. It was really faint but you could make it out.

Then me and my silver sharpie (regular tip) went to town....



I wrote our return address on the back flap in my regular handwriting and then we finished the envelopes off with the King and Queen of Hearts stamps.

We ended up doing inner envelopes as well (these came with our invitation suite from Michael's) but just printed everyone's names in the Renaissance font instead of handwriting them. What can I say my hand was pooped after the outer envelopes.

Black envelopes (6x9 Booklet Style) from Envelope Mall: 200 for $30

Silver Sharpies (4pk): $5

King and Queen of Hearts stamps: $88

Total cost per invitation: $1.03

Grand total for entire invitation: $3.37

Up next: Mailing these puppies out! :)

DIY Invitations Part IV: Suck It In...

...the belly band edition.

Belly bands (n): Decorative emblishment usually used for paper products whose purpose is to hold many items together or closed.

When we last left off our invitations were nicely secured in our pocketfold but our pocketfold was flapping in the wind. What did we do to fix it?

I started by wrapping 1.5 inch wide ribbon around the pocketfold and securing the ends to each other with double stick tape. Don't worry it doesn't have to look perfect you are just going to cover it up.

Next I added a small piece of 3M Mounting Tape on top of the ribbon. This was just to give the invitations a little more dimension. You could easily just use double stick tape here as well.

Finally, I adhered the monogram that I developed in Publisher to the top. The Mr. painstakingly trimmed the scraps from our pocketfolds projects to 2" x 2" squares then adhered our monogram cut into 1.5" x 1.5" squares on top with double stick tape.

Cost:
-Offrey Ribbon (1.5" x 12') $2 per roll (used 9 rolls)
-Double Stick Tape: Already had (FREE)
-Mounting Tape: Already had (FREE)
-Cardstock for Monogram: Already had (FREE)
Total cost for invitations (made 120): $18
Total per invitation: $0.15
Grand total per invitation-to-date (belly bands, invitations, pocketfolds, envelope liners) : $2.34
Up next: Outer Envelopes and Mailing!!