Nearing 100 Days

We are nearing the 100 day mark... and I am absolutely positive those 100 days will FLY by. I had a similar countdown at this time last year, for my graduation. It seemed to take forever to get to the 100 day mark, but then in no time, it was graduation. Only this year, in no time, it will be starting my life as the Mrs.  How exciting!

I really want to try and write more consistently... might be a little hard with my extremely hectic school schedule, but I would like to chronicle my trials and tribulations and all of my excitement! I have a bunch to talk about... invitations, flowers, and every other DIY project on my list. Today's topic is favor bags.

One of the first wedding-related decisions I made was my favors. I wanted something useful and budget friendly, as well as something to showcase Bobby and I as a couple. I loved the candy bar at a friend's recent wedding. I've seen similar favor ideas all over the wedding blogosphere, including a cookie bar. YUM! So, we're having a cookie bar. Filled with yummy homemade cookies! Our favorite recipes - chocolate chip, peanut butter, shortbread, and a few others.

The cookie bar led to DIY favor bags. It's a project that I'm actually almost finished with... going to finish them after this post, actually.

I bought the bags from Oriental Trading ($3.49 per dozen). The curling ribbon is from Michael's ($1.99 for a huge roll), and the cards were from Office Depot ($10 for the box). I printed a thank-you note and monogram on the cards, punched holes in one corner, and punched holes in the sides of the bag. The curling ribbon is in a bow, curled on the ends, for easy opening of the bags. 

I was originally going to attach another card to the bag, with table numbers, but our reception plan has changed, so these are the final bags. We have plenty... bought the bags when our guest list was still fluctuating, so these bags might show up in another DIY project. Wish I could do candles at the Hipp... they'd be perfect for luminaries.

116 days

Just checked my wedding countdown - we are fast approaching the 100 day mark. And I'm freaking out a little bit. Not the marriage part, but the wedding part. Here's my to do list:

1. Finish my DIY flowers and make bouquets.
2. Finalize our food menu to account for everything in our budget.
3. Visit the Hipp to get a better idea of reception set up. And, see if we can bump our reception up by 30 minutes.
4. See if the DJ can bump up the reception by 30 minutes.
5. Finish all of the church's requirements for marriage.
6. Find fabric to make sashes for the girls.
7. Find shirts/ties for all of the guys, and make sure everyone has the right pants.
8. Collect enough wine bottles for our centerpieces, and make them into such.
9. Make table numbers.
10. Rent tables and chairs for the reception (this is a big one and needs to be done THIS WEEK).
11. Make a veil.
12. Order a cake.
13. Get my dress altered.
14. Find shoes for me and the girls.
15. Try out making tissue paper poms as possible ceremony decor.
16. Finalize our invitation design, print them, assemble them, and (after ordering envelopes) get them sent out.
17. Assemble the escort cards/favor bags.
18. Collect items for our out of town guest's swag bags.

I'm sure there's more... but making that list did make me feel a little better. The biggest thing on my mind at the moment is my huge DIY project - my flowers. I tried assembling a bouquet with some finished flowers and hit a huge roadblock. The pipe cleaners I've been using as stems really should be doubled up to be more sturdy, meaning a possible waste of a few rolls of florist's tape. The sturdier flowers I made (from ribbons/buttons and my cotton roses) over power the white flowers I previously blogged about. I need to play around with those a bit to see if I can get them to stand out more. And a few might become hair flowers for my bridesmaids. On a good note, here's a somewhat simple DIY project that I might be able to use some flimsier fabric for: Fabric Poms. They are backup if the tissue paper poms look bad, or they might be turned into bridesmaids poms if I can't get the bouquets to look right...

A new bridesmaid

Bobby and I have some wonderful new additions to our bridal party, his sister, Kelly, will be a bridesmaid, and his brothers are going to be groomsmen. Wait, you say, didn't you already get everything figured out for you bridal party? Didn't you buy dresses already? Yes and yes... let me tell you the story of adding a few more wonderful people to our special day.

When Bobby and I started talking about friends to make up our bridesmaids and groomsmen, we realized it wasn't going to be as simple as we hoped it would. I knew I wanted my sister to be my maid of honor, and Bobby wanted his closest brother, Mike, to be his best man.  We were going to keep it at that, but then I started thinking about my wonderful friends, and knew I wouldn't want my wedding day to be without them. I really only had two friends who I wanted to pick, Elyse and Lauren, who I've introduced to all of you. However, that left Bobby with a little bit of a predicament. He has two close friends and two more brothers to choose from. After much discussion, he decided to ask his friends, Jimmy and Christian, to be groomsmen, and we were going to ask his brothers to play another special role in the wedding. Also, having his brothers be groomsmen, would then leave his sister without a role to play....

Anyways, our "solution" didn't seem to be one we really wanted, because the topic of asking the rest of his siblings to be in the bridal party kept coming up during our conversations about anything wedding-related. But one thing was stuck in my mind... asking his brothers and sister would leave our attendants uneven!! Would I dare break from wedding tradition and have an uneven number in the bridal party? The answer is yes - I would. Although this whole thing has seemed dramatic, I know that post-wedding, the memories of having all of our siblings and close friends with us will outweigh someone needing to walk down the aisle alone or in a group of three.

So, now Kelly is another wonderful bridesmaid. I'm excited to have my soon-to-be sister involved in all the festivities this way (I don't have any pictures with her... need to take some and then I'll introduce her to you all!). And, I even figured out the dress situation, thanks to my thoughtful maid of honor.

The pink dresses I had ordered from etsy (see my previous post about isadora) were from a now discontinued fabric. (If I was a bridezilla.... what drama there would have been.) Luckily, I found a dress in a lighter shade of pink, and now I am searching for a pretty pink/turquoise paisley patterned fabric to use as a sash, to tie all of the dresses together. I even found a few patterns for making neckties, and I am hoping I can find enough fabric to be sashes for the girls and ties for the guys.