All Good Things Must Come To An End...

Well ladies, after much thought and consideration, I have decided to no longer update this blog.  I truly believe that this blog has definitely lived up to its purpose to provide future brides with tutorials on how to create DIY projects to make your wedding more personal. I plan to still provide my stationary templates soon, but I've decided to leave the wedding world and enter the new world of being a wife. A crafty wife at that.

So to answer your questions, no, I'm not disappearing! I'm starting a new blog! My new blog is titled, "diary of a crafty wife." With this new blog, you can follow me as I adapt to my new life as a wife. I will be sharing recipes, crafts, projects and a more in depth look into the daily life of yours truly.  So I invite you to continue to follow me on my new blog!

I appreciate all of the wonderful feedback that I have received from you all over the last 10 months.  I wish you all the best in creating your dream weddings, and don't hesitate to stop by my new blog to find out what I'm up to!

ps. Did anyone else love the Stewie picture? My husband and I are avid watchers of Family Guy!

Wife Chop!

I actually got my hair cut on July 1st, but I have since cut even more off and I'm actually planning to cut even more off on Tuesday (Sept 21)! I had not gotten a haircut in nearly year since I was growing it out for the wedding, but with summer in full bloom, having no A/C and driving a car with no A/C.. It needed to be cut and FAST. Overall, I have probably cut off 10 inches.

Don't mind the cheesy smile..

Now my hair has been chopped off, but I'm getting bored.. so on Tuesday, I'm doing this..

 An Inverted Bob!

Pictures to come!

Frequently Asked Questons Answered!

Hello all! Over the past 3 months since the wedding, I've been receiving excellent feedback from so many people (Thank you!) and have been getting a lot of questions regarding our wedding. So I wanted to take the time to answer these questions for you all.  Keep in mind that I will be summarizing and grouping some questions together. For example, I have been asked about my dress, hair, shoes etc. all on separate occasions so I will group this all into one question and one answer.

1. Where did you get your bridal attire?
   
   
   • My dress is from the Oleg Cassini collection at David's Bridal. The style number is CT314 and you can view it by clicking here.
   • My shoes were on clearance at Shoe Carnival $9! Unfortunately, they are no longer available. However, mine are a size 7 and if you're interested in them feel free to email me at diy(dot)bride(at)yahoo(dot)com.
   • My crinoline was also purchased from David's Bridal. The style number is 603 and you can view it by clicking here. Mine is still for sale and if anyone is interested in please email me at diy(dot)bride(at)yahoo(dot)com.
   • My earrings were bought from Macy's on sale. You can view them for sale on their website here.
   • My bracelet was handmade by me and you can make one too by following the directions that I created for making pearl necklaces. I bought all of the supplies to make the necklaces and my bracelet from Hobby Lobby.
   • In terms of my hairstyle for the wedding, I've been getting incredible feedback, and many have asked for pictures of the back to share with their hairdressers. You can view the back of my hair here and here.
     
2. Where did you get your groom's attire?
   
   
   • The suits worn by my husband, his groomsmen and my father were all rented through Jim's Formal Wear. The exact suit that was rented can be found by clicking here. In our area, each suit rented for $100 each, which included the jacket, pants, shirt and a tie. Shoes were sold separately, but the men in  our bridal party just wore their own brown shoes. At the end of the day, the guys really liked the suits and boasted on how light and comfortable they were.
   • My husband's tie was purchased from The Tie Bar. The same tie is still for sale and can be purchased here. The groomsmen tie's were included with the suits that we rented and we rented them in the color, "Mandarin."
     
     
3. Will you be providing templates for your stationary projects?
   
   
   • Absolutely! I've had to purchase a new laptop since my old one is having issues. My old laptop has all the stationary templates on it and I haven't been able to get them to open since my old laptop is on the fritz. So I may have to start from scratch on those, but as I finish them and find time to work on them, they will definitely be posted!
     
     
4. Where did the bridesmaid dresses come from?
   
   
   • The dresses were purchased from David's Bridal as well. The style number for the dresses is F13287 and they were the, "Tangerine," color. You can view them on their website here.
     
     
5. Where did you order your parasols?
   
   
   • The white parasol that was used to create my Thank You Parasol was purchased from Asian Ideas.
   • My hot pink parasol and the orange parasols were purchased from Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately, they were purchased on clearance and are no longer available.
   • All of the parasols were 32" in diameter when fully opened.
     
     
6. Where did you order your paper lanterns?
   
   
   • The paper lanterns were purchased from two different websites. The hot pink and tangerine lanterns were ordered from Asian Ideas. The yellow lanterns were purchased from the Paper Lantern Store. The hot pink and tangerine lanterns were 14" and the yellow lanterns were 10".
     
     
7. Where did you order your guest book?
   
   
   • When I ordered my wedding gown, I received a coupon code from Shutterfly for a free Hardcover 8x8 Photo Book. All I had to do was pay for shipping. I just chose to use our engagement pictures to create the book and add lines to pages for people to sign.
     
     
8. What kind of food did you have catered?
   
   
   • The food that we had catered was absolutely delicious! We received so many comments on the food. We had our food catered from MCL Restaurant & Bakery. We went with more comfort-type food for the reception and our menu consisted of:
   • Cornbread Stuffed Chicken
   • Roasted Ham with Cherry Sauce
   • Sliced Baked Potatoes
   • Green Beans
   • Tossed Green Salad with an assortment of dressings
     
     
9. Where did you get your garters from?
   
   
   • My garters were purchased from Etsy through seller luly612. You can view her shop and the garters I purchased by clicking here.
     
     
10. Where did you get your hair flowers from? Were they fresh or silk?
    
    
    • The hair flowers were silk and were also purchased on Etsy through seller PrimandPosies. You can view her shop by clicking here.

I really hope that a lot of you will find this helpful and fell free to email me if you have any additional questions!

A New Chapter, A New Wedding, A New Bride

I am so excited to share with you all this new segment! My friend, Crystal, has asked me to help her plan some aspects of her  wedding. I met Crystal through my best friend/Maid of Honor, and I offered my assistance to her if she ever needed any. Well as it turns out, she has asked me to help create her wedding invitations! So now I am on a new mission for a new wedding for a new bride and I couldn't be anymore thrilled to help her. I hope I will have more details of their wedding to share with you all. So far, here is what I have..

Crystal and her fiance, Brian, are planning a wedding for June 18, 2011 in my hometown. Their color scheme is going to be yellow and gray. I've noticed that yellow and gray is becoming a more popular scheme for weddings.

Isn't it gorgeous? So much in fact, I have asked my husband how he feels about it and now, we plan to use the same color scheme for our living room! But anyways, back to weddings. The day after Crystal enlisted my help on the design of her invitations, I immediately got to work. She had sent me an idea of a design that she liked from Merriment Design. The invitations are made of mostly fabric and since I'm not yet knowledgeable about the craft of sewing, I asked her if she would be against the idea of using cardstock to make a similar design for her invitations. Once I was given the go ahead, I went straight to work with supplies that I had on hand. So here is a mock up of what I came up with..

Now, keep in mind that this is rough mock up of a potential invitation for her, and the colors may end up darkening or lightening in terms of shade, but for the most part, I say that the mock up came out really well! It involves quite a bit of cutting of the individual shapes since they were all cut freehand, but the design definitely allows for variation. I suggested that we could make some invites like these and then for others, we could change the dominant color of the flower from yellow to gray and use a yellow button instead, or we could make a white flower. So many ideas are already flowing through my head, and I can't wait to finalize all the details with her!

Thank You Cards - Check!

I actually had these made a few weeks ago, and have been working on them to send out to our guests. But now I have finally gotten around to making a post about these. If you remember my Thank You Parasol Post, where I shared with you all on how to successfully create your own thank you parasol. Ours was a total hit and our photographer loved it! She had never seen a thank you parasol before and loved exploring different ideas on how to create the best shot for our thank you cards. Anyways, without any further adieu..

Photography By Meredith Rogers

I created these through Vistaprint. If you sign up for their weekly emails, you will receive different specials on their products. When I ordered these, they were having a special on their note cards by selling them at 50% off. I uploaded our photo to Vistaprint's website and had these printed in gloss finish. If you plan to make these for yourself, make sure to have them printed in gloss finish or linen finish. I had them originally done in matte finish, and they weren't good. So I was able to contact customer service, and they sent them to me in gloss finish for free, and they even shipped them priority so that I would receive them faster. Their customer service was absolutely awesome and they didn't charge us at all to replace the matte ones. Another piece of advice that I have for you is to make sure that the photo that you upload is of high resolution. If they are not of high resolution, then the picture will come out grainy.

Dudley's Dos & Donts of DIY: Ceremony Decor!

The wedding ceremony. The time has come to marry your honey, and the guests will all be there to watch. But let's face it.. the guests are eager and excited to watch you get married just as much as they're also wanting to see your decor and what you did exactly to dress up your ceremony space. For the most part, ceremony decor should be relatively simple. No need to go over the top because going simple goes a long way. Que Billy Idol's "White Wedding!"

DIY Ceremony Decor - Dos & Donts

Whether you're getting married indoors or outdoors, there are a number of things to consider when you begin designing the layout of your ceremony. So I've compiled ideas for both. Now let's say you're having an indoor ceremony. Imagine with me, if you will, your guests are walking up to the doors to enter. You have a few options, in terms of decor, on how you could potentially spruce up those doors. Decorating the doors are by no means mandatory, but let's say if you were going to..

DO: Be clean and uncomplicated.
No need to go overboard since your guests will just be walking through the doors and will see the decor for roughly 5 seconds. Hanging door letters like these are just the perfect touch.

DON'T: Hang anything resembling a woolly mammoth
with a pink bow.
AHH! Too much! You don't want to scare people do you?!

So now your guests have entered your ceremony space.  Do you have anything lining the aisle? More than likely, yes, but you don't need to. Depending on your space, sometimes very little ceremony decor is better. For instance fellow knottie, Brie of Brie-Fit, held her ceremony in a large beautiful church with tall, colorful windows..

Photography by Danielle Aquiline
Brie chose to keep her ceremony decor minimal, which was perfect considering the church already was an immaculate decoration on its own.

Now, let's say you're having more decor..

DO: Design the aisle, don't destroy the aisle.
Another fellow knottie and blogger, Ashley of Bride on a Budget, took a different approach when it came to decorating her aisle by creating "S" petal designs on the grass that lined the aisle. Gorgeous!

Photography by Micha Everett.

This bride chose to use an overlapping ring design.


DON'T: Use rose petals to design anything resembling alcoholic beverages or anything provocative.
Whether this bride decided to have her aisle decor in the shape of a martini glass, we will never know.

DO: Non-traditional decor to line the aisle.
Laying out traditional rose petals to line the aisle with a runner is no longer a must for every wedding. Brides are taking to new heights and modernized ideas to line their aisles.

 Photography by Meredith Rogers

 Fruit! Candles! Centerpieces! Lanterns! Pomanders! OH MY!
...Just don't do them all.



DON'T: Balloon Arches. Just don't.
Keep in mind that this is a wedding. Not your high school prom or Disneyland. Balloon arches are OUT. 
She's a beauty isn't she? Even in the shape of a heart!

 Balloons inside balloons are still a don't. But you have to see my favorite...







 
Balloon arches that line an entire aisle. 
I'm speechless.




DO: Incorporate a monogram or design into the aisle runner.
A trend among weddings are monograms/logos. How you choose to incorporate the monograms is completely up to you, but one way to carry it out in ceremony decor is through your aisle runner. Fellow knottie, Jennifer of Vogt Stories, creates these beautiful monograms on aisle runners. Make sure to check out her Etsy shop!

Photography by Angela Laird


Another major part of your ceremony decor is your bridal party. Believe it or not, bridal party members are there to support you, but they also can help carry out your wedding color scheme and/or theme.


DO: Coordinate your bridal party well. 
 If you don't want them to match, then they don't need to. But just remember that not only do you want them to look good, but they want to look and feel good too.
Coral dresses with coral ties. Done. Nothing major

DON'T: Making your bridesmaids identical and perfectly matched.
Having them all wear the same dress is one thing, but to go as far as make them wear matching shoes along with matching accessories and similar hairstyles... Major don't. Your bridesmaids have personalities so let them express it.

 Here is a great example of a bride who told their bridesmaids to choose their own green dress or a dress with a green embellishment.

They look great! Each can express her own personality, and feel comfortable.

So modern and fun!

DO: Providing beverages.

 Cute and personalized water bottle labels are a hot new trend right now in the wedding world. Providing beverages are not a requirement, but definitely a nice gesture for those ceremonies that will be held outdoors or extra long.

Photography by Meredith Rogers 

A lemonade stand is a unique and fun idea too!

DON'T: Getting flower and color happy.

You don't want to overload your space with color or flowers.

Hello red!

Did red rose petals throw up? =)

And there you have it. My Dos & Donts of DIY for Ceremony Decor. 

I do have one more question though..

Why when I was searching for wedding decor, did this picture show up? 

Here's a better question, WHY IS A DOG STANDING ON CHEESEBURGERS?

I'll leave ya with that!

Made A Married Bio!

Hello everyone! I was up late last night, so I decided to make a Married Bio! I've shared some pictures on here with you all already, but the bio provides more pictures for you all to see more details of our wedding. Feel free to check it out: http://dudleygetsmarried.weebly.com/index.html

Dudley's Dos & Don'ts of DIY: Invitations

When you begin planning your wedding, you begin scavenging through photos for inspiration for your own big day. Whether it be your dream wedding gown to those modern invites that you must have, I think it is important to stress that DIYing items for your wedding definitely can have its limits. So I have compiled my own, "Dudley's Dos & Don'ts of DIY," which I plan to incorporate as a new feature!

Invitations. The first impression that your guests will receive of your wedding. With many wedding invitation vendors charging as much as $4-$5 per wedding invitation, it has become more common for brides to opt to design and create their own. You don't need expensive calligraphers or diamond-finish cardstock to make your invitations spectacular, but there are a few key guidelines that you should follow when it comes to DIYing your invites.

DIY Invitations - Dos & Donts

 DON'T: Be sloppy.

The use of different sized fonts can be perfectly fine for your invite, but do it the right way. An array of text, sizes and colors will have your guests dizzy before they even realize exactly what they're being invited to. Be more orderly when compiling your words.

DO: Clean and simple can go a long way.

Simple use of color, clean lines, simple graphic, and proper alignment will give your invitation a more professional look. Think modern.

 DON'T: Attempt for cheap laughs and corniness.

A wedding is a union between two people joining their lives together. Not a circus. Yea, just don't ever do what the couple did below.

DO: Be Organized. 

Organization is key when it comes to compiling the final product, whether that be with a pocket, ribbon etc. When your guests open your invitation for the first time, they don't want the little extras to fall out of the envelope.

 DON'T: Pretending to be fictional characters instead.

No "Romeo & Juliet," "Bella & Edward," or "Elvis & Priscilla." Be yourselves.

DO: Be creative.

Add color. Add a vector. Now don't go nuts, but the days of plain, floral wedding invitations are GONE.

 DON'T: Adding too much and being too busy.

No need to put three pictures of you and your honey on the invite, one will do. Your entire invitation doesn't need to be covered with something. Like I said previously, think clean and simple.

DO: Think outside the norm.

Belly bands are becoming more and more popular in the wedding invitation market, but who says that they have to be plain? This couple opted to incorporate their first names into their belly bands.

 DON'T: Incorporating your registry.

Major no-no. Weddings are parties, but gifts are by no means necessary. By adding your registry information to your invites, you're suggesting to your guests that you expect a gift. Registry information should be told by word of mouth or can be displayed on your wedding website.

DO: Create a theme to carry out.

Themes are by no means mandatory, but a cute detail like this beaded band can be used in many different ways throughout your wedding. It will give your wedding a more chic and modern feel.

 DON'T: Misspell or be grammatically incorrect.

Spell check everything, and then have a few friends or family members check everything again. Typos can be quite embarassing too, so make sure to double check and re-check everything!

 And there you have it.

Don't go crazy with your invitations, but by following simple guidelines like these, you will make your invitations something to remember and treasure.

Do you have any "Dos & Donts," to share?

Any pictures of past weddings where there was a major DIY do or dont?

If so, email them to me! I want to see them! They may be featured!

diy.bride@yahoo.com

DIY We Love: Back To School Themed Weddings!

With schools gradually beginning their fall semesters, I began thinking about weddings and how school could become a potential theme for your nuptials. If you and your sweetie are teachers, or if you're high school sweethearts (like my husband and I), school-themed weddings would be a creative and innovative way to help your wedding stand apart from the rest.  Let's check out exactly how this could be achieved!

DIY Ideas

For starters, you will probably want to incorporate more school-themed decor into your cocktail hour and reception decor, but you could introduce your theme to your guests with your invites and subtle ceremony decor as well!

Mini tabbed file folders could be used to hold all of your wedding invitation materials pinned with paper clips, and your invitation could have a lined-paper look to pull the theme together. This bride used an "Attendance Report," to track her RSVP's!

The guest book could incorporate a more spiral-bound notebook look along with some doodles and a No.2 pencil. This wedding party posed with a vintage name board to make it look like a class picture!

How about the cocktail hour?

How about milk served by the pint along with cookies, small sandwiches and apples!

A desk could be used to hold apple escort cards!

A new trend among weddings is incorporating chalkboards. I shared with you all previously, Chardonnay's DIY chalkboards, and how they can be made quite cheaply with a little chalkboard paint.

How about using chalkboards for your table numbers? Cute, simple and unique!

Also, you could make larger chalkboards that you could use to share the wedding meal menu with your guests.

Now what about those centerpieces? Why not.. books!

Books can be dressed up in an array of ways or dressed down if you want to go for a more vintage feel.

Flower arrangements could even be placed on top of books to give your reception a more elegant look.

No matter what theme you want to create just remember that a little can go a long way, and always think outside the box. Ya never know, it could end up on my "DIY We Love," feature!

Do you have an amazing theme to share? Did you have a DIY wedding? If so, feel free to email me at diy.bride@yahoo.com to be featured!