Anyone else start singing?
Anyways, it is the final countdown! We're leaving tonight/Wednesday morning for Missouri (about 2 a.m.) after a few hours of sleep. Hopefully that'll put us in Missouri around noon. I'll pick up my dress at the store in Jeff City and then wedding madness starts! Family starts coming in Thursday, we're doing nails and the rehearsal/family dinner Friday, then Saturday's the big day!
Let's just say that packing my car (a Mazda CX5) was no small feat. I honestly didn't think we had that much stuff, but after 10 months of hoarding wedding stuff, my car is stuffed. I've gone through each room in our house a million times double, triple and quadruple checking that I haven't missed anything.
I promised myself that as I got closer to the wedding, I wasn't going to stop updating my blog, but we'll all see how well that worked out. I promise after the wedding there will be more pictures and tutorials than you can stand.
I'll make one more post as a miss before the wedding, I'm sure. After 10 months of planning this shindig, I can't believe it's almost here.
People keep asking how I'm feeling. I'm a bit stressed and nervous, but overall, I'm more excited than I've ever been before. I'm excited to see all of our family and friends. I'm excited to stuff myself with good food, candy and cupcakes. But most of all, I'm excited to marry Keegan. To become his wife and for us to start our lives together. I'm also excited about the honeymoon, but that's a different story.
Now it's time for us to try and get a few hours of sleep before we start this journey. I promise to stop by one more time before the wedding.
<3 Aislinn
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 16, 2012
DIY Wedding: Garter
One of the first wedding blogs I found was Happily After All. This girl also did a lot of DIY for her wedding and has a lot of great tutorials, many of which I have used.
I used Katie's (at least I believe that's her name, I can't really remember,) tutorial as a basis for making my own garter. I was going to use her tutorial step by step, but I realized that my elastic was wider than my ribbon, so I couldn't tread it through my garter like she did.
Anyways, grab your elastic, fabric, ribbon, pins, thread and sewing machine. I used 1" elastic, 7/8" ribbon, and a piece of fabric that was 4" x 1 yard.
This is where I pretty much deviated from the original tutorial.
I first sewed my ribbon on my fabric so that it would be in the middle and the seam would be on the back once I made my tube.
I used Katie's (at least I believe that's her name, I can't really remember,) tutorial as a basis for making my own garter. I was going to use her tutorial step by step, but I realized that my elastic was wider than my ribbon, so I couldn't tread it through my garter like she did.
Anyways, grab your elastic, fabric, ribbon, pins, thread and sewing machine. I used 1" elastic, 7/8" ribbon, and a piece of fabric that was 4" x 1 yard.
This is where I pretty much deviated from the original tutorial.
I first sewed my ribbon on my fabric so that it would be in the middle and the seam would be on the back once I made my tube.
(please excuse my filthy floors)
Ribbon sewed to the fabric (again about the floors.)
Next, pin the ribbon right sides together to make a tube.
Once your tube is sewed, start turning it inside out so the right sides are outside...
...like so.
Next, attach your elastic to a safety pin and something you can slide through the tube. I used the key to my new baby, but you can use anything.
Next, bunch up the fabric in the middle of your elastic and pin the ends of the fabric tube flush with the ends of the elastic. Sew the ends of the tube shut so the elastic won't move.
Put the right sides together and sew the ends together making a complete circle.
Et viola, you have a garter.
Attach a cute charm (it's hard to see, but there's a 'W' in the middle for my new last name,) and you have a completed garter. I did this twice so I had one to toss and one to keep.
I'm not sure exactly how much I paid for all of the materials, but making this was way cheaper than buying two already made. I'd say I spent about $10 total to make two garters. Even though I was drooling over the ones sold on Etsy, I knew that this way was more budget friendly. Honestly, it wasn't too difficult and it took me two nights to finish, about 5 hours total. In that time, I actually made three complete garters, but we decided that the first one I made was too fat.
See? Originally, I had the fabric 5" wide, but it was just too poofy so I scaled it down to 4 inches.
And that's it! Super simple and cheap. If you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll try to clarify.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
DIY Wedding: Love Is Sweet Bunting
So until I became a bride and immersed myself in everything bridal, I had no idea this was called bunting:
Now I do, and I've fallen in love with it like many another bride, especially the "Love Is Sweet" bunting that has adorned many candy buffets and cake tables.
So yes, I had to jump on the bunting bandwagon and make my own.
First, Keegan and I had to figure out how long our bunting would be and how wide each triangle could be. Our sweets table is going to be 5 feet, or 60 inches long. We figured we would need a little longer string so to attach it to the sides of the table and let it sag in the middle a bit. Keegan did fancy math and figured out 7.5 feet would be perfect. He then did more fancy math and figured out that a 6 inch wide triangle would allow there to be enough room to space out the triangles a bit.
So I took that information and made myself some triangles in Photoshop, my first love.
Now I do, and I've fallen in love with it like many another bride, especially the "Love Is Sweet" bunting that has adorned many candy buffets and cake tables.
So yes, I had to jump on the bunting bandwagon and make my own.
First, Keegan and I had to figure out how long our bunting would be and how wide each triangle could be. Our sweets table is going to be 5 feet, or 60 inches long. We figured we would need a little longer string so to attach it to the sides of the table and let it sag in the middle a bit. Keegan did fancy math and figured out 7.5 feet would be perfect. He then did more fancy math and figured out that a 6 inch wide triangle would allow there to be enough room to space out the triangles a bit.
So I took that information and made myself some triangles in Photoshop, my first love.
(Personal Photo)
I got 2 triangles on an 11" x 8.5" piece of paper.
Next, I started working on the letters. I wanted to use the same typeface we have been using for all of our paper pieces (Monotype Corsiva,) but the "I" was slanted and looked funny in the triangle. I settled on Segoe Script and typed out "LOVE IS SWEET." After re-arranging the letters, I flipped the entire image horizontally so that the letters printed out backwards. That way, when I cut them out, the ink and cut lines wouldn't be seen.
That looked like:
(Personal Photo)
I printed out the letters in orange paper, the triangles in green and glued them together. It came out like:
(All three photos above are personal photos)
We taped the string and the letters to the wall to ensure that we had enough space and everything looked ok. I'm going to punch holes in the corners and we'll string it all together when we get to Missouri.
I'm quite happy with it! The entire thing from working in Photoshop to cutting them out and gluing them down took less than an hour. Quick but effective!
One Month
Yesterday, July 4, 2012 marked the one month point until our wedding (as well as my late grandma's birthday, America's birthday, and 19 days until my golden birthday, but who's counting?)
Anyways, yes, we have 1 month (minus a day) until our wedding.
Que freak out.
We still only have about 55% of our RSVPs. I don't know if our mailman is still losing them or our friends are just lazy, but c'mon people! I have to give Hy-Vee our final head count in less than two weeks and I really don't feel like tracking down half our our guest list. Half of me wants to assume that if they haven't responded by now, they're not coming, but the other, more controlling, type-A side of me freaks out about not having enough chairs/food/drinks if we just assume. Remember, assuming makes an ass out of you and me (or something like that) and I wouldn't want to be an ass of a bride.
*Side note, I had a friend tell me last night that he blatantly lost our invite. Now, I realize that we sent them out two months ago and not everyone is like me and puts wedding invitations on their fridge, but really?! I guess I'm more hurt than anything because I put so much work into our invitations. I knew that they would be beat up in the mail and eventually tossed in the trash, but it still hurts my heart knowing that someone didn't care enough about our invitations and just lost it.*
The one month mark has also brought some problems from future in-laws (which I'll possibly get into in another post.) However, we're working through it. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it'll basically come down to the, "You're not paying for anything, it's our wedding, get your nose out of it," talk. I don't want it to, but one month until the wedding isn't the right time for you to tell me that you don't approve of our favors.
Overall, I'm nervous. And stressed. And more giddy than a schoolgirl. Whenever I think about the wedding, I get butterflies in my stomach. Mostly, I'm excited about finally marrying my bestest best friend. However, I'm also nervous. I've never thrown such a large party before (which is really what our wedding will be.) I know things will go wrong, but I hope that overall the wedding goes off without a hitch.
I promised myself that by this time, I would have most of my DIY projects done, but we all know how that goes. I have a lot left to finish so blogging may have to take a place on the back burner *gasp!* I'll still update as much as I can with how things are going and more DIY projects. Currently in the works: a DIY photobooth, DIY name hangers (doesn't every bride want one?,) our favors, food and fun.
Hang in with me readers! It's going to be a bumpy ride, but it'll be one to remember!
Anyways, yes, we have 1 month (minus a day) until our wedding.
Que freak out.
We still only have about 55% of our RSVPs. I don't know if our mailman is still losing them or our friends are just lazy, but c'mon people! I have to give Hy-Vee our final head count in less than two weeks and I really don't feel like tracking down half our our guest list. Half of me wants to assume that if they haven't responded by now, they're not coming, but the other, more controlling, type-A side of me freaks out about not having enough chairs/food/drinks if we just assume. Remember, assuming makes an ass out of you and me (or something like that) and I wouldn't want to be an ass of a bride.
*Side note, I had a friend tell me last night that he blatantly lost our invite. Now, I realize that we sent them out two months ago and not everyone is like me and puts wedding invitations on their fridge, but really?! I guess I'm more hurt than anything because I put so much work into our invitations. I knew that they would be beat up in the mail and eventually tossed in the trash, but it still hurts my heart knowing that someone didn't care enough about our invitations and just lost it.*
The one month mark has also brought some problems from future in-laws (which I'll possibly get into in another post.) However, we're working through it. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it'll basically come down to the, "You're not paying for anything, it's our wedding, get your nose out of it," talk. I don't want it to, but one month until the wedding isn't the right time for you to tell me that you don't approve of our favors.
Overall, I'm nervous. And stressed. And more giddy than a schoolgirl. Whenever I think about the wedding, I get butterflies in my stomach. Mostly, I'm excited about finally marrying my bestest best friend. However, I'm also nervous. I've never thrown such a large party before (which is really what our wedding will be.) I know things will go wrong, but I hope that overall the wedding goes off without a hitch.
I promised myself that by this time, I would have most of my DIY projects done, but we all know how that goes. I have a lot left to finish so blogging may have to take a place on the back burner *gasp!* I'll still update as much as I can with how things are going and more DIY projects. Currently in the works: a DIY photobooth, DIY name hangers (doesn't every bride want one?,) our favors, food and fun.
Hang in with me readers! It's going to be a bumpy ride, but it'll be one to remember!
Monday, July 2, 2012
RSVP Deadline
Well friends, the deadline for our RSVPs has come and past (July 1, 2012.) Where do we stand?
*Note: these numbers include RSVPs we have gotten through email and FaceBook from friends who's RSVPs seem to have gotten lost in the mail. These numbers also include our wedding party which comes out to about 20 people.*
53% have responded
25% Yes
28% No
This means....
We invited 283 people (holy crap I didn't realize it was that many! That does include +1s and kids, however.)
72 Yes
78 No
For the family gathering the night before (instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner):
45 Yes
89 No
How do I feel about the numbers? Well, I'm honestly kind of disappointed. I'm not really disappointed by the number of coming/not coming (I've gone through that disappointment before,) but I'm surprised at the amount of people that haven't responded at all. I know that we sent out the invitations in May (2 months before our RSVP deadline and 3 months before the wedding) so people have probably forgotten or lost their RSVP card, but sheesh, c'mon people! *Note: we sent our our invitations so early because 99% of our guest list is coming from out of city/state/country. We wanted to give everyone enough time to finalize their travel plans.*
If there is one thing that I have learned from being a bride, it's to send back your RSVP card as soon as you know you are able to/not able to come. For the two weddings we were invited to this summer, I sent back the RSVP card the next day. One of the couples even said they were surprised at how fast our RSVP got back to them. I honestly think that it's just courteous to get it back to the couple as soon as possible so that they have one less RSVP to worry about and they can get seating charts/place cards/favors/etc. ready. If only 47% of our guests had the same mindset....
Since we have to give Hy-Vee the final food count in 2 weeks, I see these next few weeks full of tracking down the rest of our guests. Wish us luck!
*Note: these numbers include RSVPs we have gotten through email and FaceBook from friends who's RSVPs seem to have gotten lost in the mail. These numbers also include our wedding party which comes out to about 20 people.*
53% have responded
25% Yes
28% No
This means....
We invited 283 people (holy crap I didn't realize it was that many! That does include +1s and kids, however.)
72 Yes
78 No
For the family gathering the night before (instead of a traditional rehearsal dinner):
45 Yes
89 No
How do I feel about the numbers? Well, I'm honestly kind of disappointed. I'm not really disappointed by the number of coming/not coming (I've gone through that disappointment before,) but I'm surprised at the amount of people that haven't responded at all. I know that we sent out the invitations in May (2 months before our RSVP deadline and 3 months before the wedding) so people have probably forgotten or lost their RSVP card, but sheesh, c'mon people! *Note: we sent our our invitations so early because 99% of our guest list is coming from out of city/state/country. We wanted to give everyone enough time to finalize their travel plans.*
If there is one thing that I have learned from being a bride, it's to send back your RSVP card as soon as you know you are able to/not able to come. For the two weddings we were invited to this summer, I sent back the RSVP card the next day. One of the couples even said they were surprised at how fast our RSVP got back to them. I honestly think that it's just courteous to get it back to the couple as soon as possible so that they have one less RSVP to worry about and they can get seating charts/place cards/favors/etc. ready. If only 47% of our guests had the same mindset....
Since we have to give Hy-Vee the final food count in 2 weeks, I see these next few weeks full of tracking down the rest of our guests. Wish us luck!
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