WEDDING VENUE!

It just hit me. I finally know when and where and what day our wedding will be! It is a huge relief to move on to all the bazillions of other decisions I have to make. At the same time, it is thrilling to actually be able to visualize what our wedding will look like! Unless it rains, of course, because I can't yet let myself imagine anything disrupting all of my perfectly calculated plans. Well, c'est la vie, if it does rain...

This is our wedding venue from the sky:


And this is where our cocktail hour will be:



mmmm, I can almost relax having this MAJOR detail decided...

except for the photographer, the DJ, the officiant, the baker, the florist, OH MY...

Paper Flowers!

As I mentioned before, I have been working on a paper flower arrangement to compliment my real flowers at our wedding reception next spring. Thus far, they are coming along great, and didn't take very long to make. Unfortunately, I don't have much time lately...but here is what I've done so far:

Drawing inspiration from Martha's Encyclopedia of Crafts, I fell in love with these fringed paper flowers:



I also happened to have paper that I thought would be perfect for my flowers. The flowers above are made by Quilling, which is basically the art of shaping strips of paper into various forms such as letters or flowers (usually in tight scrolls). To do this you will need strips of paper, glue and a Quilling Tool (a slotted tool used to hold the paper as you wrap it around). This tool, small and simple as it is, is actually quite important. It holds the paper firm and allows for tighter curls. Don't bother looking for this tool at AC Moore or Michael's--they no longer carry it. Looks like only old ladies, Martha and myself are into Quilling these days. I did find what I needed at www.quilling.com and www.acmoore.com (search Quilling Tool). Cost: $8.00


(as you can see from the tag over the photos this pic was liberated from a quilling expert-- InCreations.blogspot-- who is also Russian? Sorry to borrow a pic...mine came out blurry and I'm too lazy to re-do)

I cut my paper into strips and got to work. I didn't really read the instructions as the twisting looked self-explanatory to me. I scrolled a center for my first flower with strips of light pink paper. I cut the strips by hand, although I do have a paper cutter, I just thought the less perfect the cut, the more texture there would be in the flower. After I created a flower center ---



I went to work on the rest of the flower. I used a darker pink paper with thicker strips that I then cut the fringe into. It really is a simple technique, you twist and glue! I added more paper fringe as I saw fit, when the flower needed more depth. I am very pleased with the result. Boyfriend really liked them too (as much as a guy can like paper flowers, that is) but he did brag to his mom about how nice they turned out!

Quickie!

Aggghhhh...I promise am not giving up my blog--I just have SO LITTLE TIME! If I wasn't working so much I would be updating all my wonderful ideas and inspiration twice daily. BUT in the meantime, I ran across this beautiful rehearsal dinner on Style Me Pretty:


This is precisely the casual elegance we are aiming for!

Genius!

Look what I found over at the wonderful wedding blog
Style Me Pretty:


They read my mind (or pretty close anyway)...and gave me a pretty picture to show everyone!

planning thoughts and centerpieces

It's been a boring work week so far, not too much going on here-- but I have made a LOT of headway on my wedding plans. No ring yet, and I am pretty sure I'll be waiting a little while. So it really is hard to make any definitive plans *yet,* but we do know basically where and when we want to get married and there SO much to be done. Mostly, I am already getting overwhelmed at the tremendous expense of it all. I am determined to keep it all in perspective and remember not to get wrapped up in having everything perfect. With a tight budget, some things will just have to give. And that's ok. (I say this now...) Since we have decided to have a small destination wedding in South Florida, we know there are going to be a lot of elements out of our control, and we're just gonna roll with it. When we really evaluated what was important to us, a big wedding just wasn't a priority. If we did here at home--our wedding would be huge and EXPENSIVE. I figure if we're in a beachside paradise and nature does most of the work, the table linens won't matter as much to me. That's the plan anyway!

This past weekend Boyfriend and I spent the day in Charlotte and made a stop at the new Ikea there. Thank you thank you there is now FINALLY an Ikea South of the Sweet Tea line. Atlanta is too far South, btw AND Why are there TWO in the DC area??? Yeah I know Maryland and Virginia are different states but that always seemed like poor marketing to me. North Carolinians like cheap Sweedish crap too! At least the ones I know...SO I was very glad to be able to actually not have to make a special trip 6 or 7 hours away. The reason I am so excited about Ikea are, among other gems, cheap bud vases for my reception centerpieces (I was serious when I said I wanted budget-conscious simplicity!). I am very excited about the possibilities and Boyfriend is very excited about the prices--Take a lookie at these:






Artfully cluster a few of these with bright pretty flowers, and Viola! a simple, chic centerpiece. Oh yes, and they range in price from $1.99 to $4.99. A great find! I plan on using a few bud vases of different heights, picture frames with the table numbers, and decorative tea lights that will work outside.