Throw-Away Bouquet

       To make my throw-away bouquet, I picked up some polka-dotted faux daisies from Michaels'.  I bent the stems a bit and cut them to an appropriate length to make a bouquet.  Then I wrapped the stems together with floral tape and covered it in copper ribbon ("Firefly" was the name of the color) from Wal-mart. I then cut some copper leaves from a bundle of my Michaels' Christmas clearance treasures and hot-glued them onto the outer edges of the arrangement. Then, I hot-glued some copper berries from the Michaels' Christmas clearance stuff to the centers of each of the flower heads. As a final touch, I added some ribbon of each of the wedding colors to the stem...it came out cuter than I had pictured!

Photo Op Sign!

       So I found some neat ideas for making photo op areas on Pintrest. I found some awesome large paper butterflies at Hobby Lobby that were the perfect wedding colors! I decided we would hang them in an arch and make a sign in the middle of the arch with our names and dates.  For the sign, I cut out letters and numbers on variously colored scrapbook paper using fun-cutting scissors. Then I cut out shimmery copper paper rectangles and used spray adhesive to stick the colored letters onto the rectangles leaving a little room at the top.  In the space on the top, I used a hole-puncher to make a single, small hole in the top of the single letters and multiple holes in the word/number blocks.  I then used ribbon and string to tie each of the pieces onto a long length of ribbon/string. Finally, I strung them up to make sure that the sign looked the way that I wanted it to and adjusted pieces accordingly. :) The following pictures were taken in different kinds of lighting in order to give everyone a more real idea of how they look in nature life. I can't wait to decorate the reception building so that I can post a picture of the whole photo op area!

Just for Kids

       We wanted to do a little something for the little ones at our wedding. So, I created a legal-sized page of fun little games and pictures to color using Microsoft Word. I pulled some cute clipart off of the internet and I made up some games such as a maze and a word search to go on these sheets. They wound up being super cute! I've even had a few of my attendants tell me that they want one too! We printed off 50...so hopefully that will be plenty for all the kids...and kids-at-heart. I also decided that I should give kids map pencils rather than crayons. ('Cause I'm a thinker! :p) I had a lot of map pencils laying around, so I had my awesome Dad cut them into two for me and set to sharpening them. I plan to put them in a little basket on the guest table to be given to the little kiddos as their parents come to sign the guestbook. :) I hope that they enjoy it!

Centerpieces

So this particular post will be a work-in-progress.

      The centerpieces were created in two stages. First, I picked up a bunch of flower bundles from Micheals' that were on sale and cut the bundles into single flowers and laid them out in piles by color. Then, I played florist for a while by making all kinds of different small arrangements. Once I made one that I liked, I added a little greenery and then wrapped the stems in floral tape. From there, I placed each arrangement into one of the beautiful colored jars I had collected from sales at Hobby Lobby or Micheals'. After all of the arrangements were placed into the jars, I tied a little raffia bow around the neck and added a cute little floral butterfly to each bouquet.  These looked lovely. :)

       The plan is to place these on top of mesquite wood pedestals. I'll post more about how this was done after we actually get them made. In the mean time, here's a neat picture of what I'm planning on doing....

       There was one other centerpiece that I made for the family table. I made an floral arrangement just as I had before, but this time I placed it into a cool-looking beehive that I found at an estate sale. I also added a few little floral bees around the outsides of the beehive. It ended up looking super-cute!

Great Journeys Start With Awesome Shoes!

     They say that every great journey begins with a single step. While this may be true, I do believe that prior to stepping out, one must be properly equipped with shoes that are able to make said journey! :p  And who wants to begin an adventure as amazing as marriage wearing uncomfortable shoes that most people won't see because of the dress anyway? (Plus, I want to be able to run in case of the zombie apocalypse! Hehe.) The point is, I wanted to do something I'd dreamed of for a very long time....wear Converse on my wedding day!

     So, I did what any logical person would do...I tried to find shoes to match my wedding colors! And let me tell you...that was not easy! First of all, there are very few types of Converse out there that are rainbow...and those that are, are primary colors, not neons.  I did manage to find a Google image of the PERFECT shoe...but...it seems that the website that the shoe comes from is in Russian...so ordering was a bit of a problem.

     Then I got the bright idea that I could dye them myself using Airicca's wonderful spray dye that I had used on the flowers for the boutonnieres and that would be used for the dress tie.  So, I found a white pair on e-bay for a decent price that were in good condition, washed them thoroughly, bought some insoles, and prepared to dye them.

        At the last moment prior to dying...I had an epiphany. I should just use sharpies instead! The colors would be brighter and I could more easily control overlap! Knowing that this task would be time consuming, I tested each of my colors used to create the directional signage on the inner tongue of one of the shoes.  They looked so vibrant! I was sold! So I began the tedious task of working on the shoes.  I started by outlining the Converse logo and each of the eyelets with yellow. This was surrounded by orange, then green, then blue, then pink, and finally purple. At that point, the color pattern repeated itself. I did this for both shoes.

      Since there wasn't any logo on the outsides of the shoes, I had to get even more creative.  On one I scripted the word "Love" in black, then outlined things as I had before.  The other shoe proved more difficult. I couldn't spell out "Love" again because the "L" would be small and the "E" large due to the natural curve of the shoes. So, I drew a heart and wrote "M + J" inside in black sharpie. This design was, again, colored according to the previously established pattern. The results were spectacular! I can't wait to wear these!!! :)

The Butterfly Cage

     I read a story when I first began researching wedding ceremonies about a Navajo legend involving butterflies.  This story involved capturing a butterfly and whispering to it a wish.  After whispering your wish, one should release the butterfly as it is the Great Spirit's favorite animal.  The Great Spirit would be so pleased that you released the butterfly, that he would grant your wish.  This story has been the basis for the release of butterflies at weddings and other special events for many years.
      I loved this idea! I looked up prices for ordering butterflies...and determined that it was WAY out of our budget. (We are talking $65-$95/dozen!) I couldn't believe they were so pricey! I looked into breeding my own as well, but that was not really any cheaper in the long run.  Then I thought about capturing them myself (along with some friends) and putting them in decorative baby food jars for each guest. But that seemed crazy with the number of guests we are planning for.
     Just when I had given up on the idea...I was presented with another option...what if we just released all that we could catch at once instead of giving an insect to each guest? BRILLIANT! I began looking for a birdcage with bars close enough together that they would not be able to escape.  After a few weeks of searching, my former roommate, Nathan, texted me about some potential bird cages that he found at Hobby Lobby.  I rushed to the store and purchased one of these cages.
     




     The only problem was that the cage was blue.  It was the right blue for the wedding, but I still wanted it to be copper instead.  I had a copper leafing pen at home and proceeded to color the entire cage with this...it took forever!  I left the bird and flower on either sides of the door in their original blue, but the stems and leaves from this design were colored copper. I also colored the chain at the top as well as the door and its handle.

     After a LOT of hours, I had the cage foiled in a shimmery copper that I was happy with. Now it was time to figure out how to add the wedding colors to this copper creation! I started by hot gluing a green ribbon with dragonflies around the design border already present on the cage.  Next, I hot glued on a few flowers to the center of the blue metal flowers that I didn't foil.  Then, I hot glued on the same sorts of flowers in each of the wedding colors in a grouping on the door to the cage.  Finally, I clipped on some floral butterflies.  This is going to look great on a Sheppard's hook at the ceremony! I can't wait to release them as we exit the ceremony site! I hope everyone makes good wishes for us! :)