Do YOU like to Do-It-Yourself: Part 2

Let's set the mood shall we?! So thanks to Marth Stewart I ordered vellum paper last week and received it in the mail in just 2 days. Speedy delivery and I highly recommend using Paper and More if you are looking for tons of paper options as well as envelopes.

Anywho, I printed the templates today at work in light blue, dark blue, and gold (since my invitations are not incorporating this color). I was extremely giddy to get home and put it together and see how it looks.


I got all my supplies ready and started to think about which sizes I thought would work. I then realized that I most likely will need to buy bigger paper instead of 8 1/2 x 11 because the circumference was pretty small and not many of my candles at home would fit in it. Boo! I also need a bone folder which I neglected to buy this past weekend but I decided to fold one myself and see at least how it looks.


I used 3/8 inch Glue Dots adhesives to hold them together; about 4 per sheet since 3 wasn't enough. I cut two of them to show the versatility you can get with these sheets. I acutlally like the smaller vellum candles over the big ones. The big ones seem a bit odd and out of place.


As you can tell the one folded CLEARLY shows the crease and the paper is delicate enough to create marks too when folding. But I like the square look though.
I realized after the 3rd picture that my camera has a special feature for taking pictures of candles HENCE why this picture really shows them in their true glory. =) I really like the concept but I want to play around with the design a bit since I thought the colors didn't pop much. Also going to get larger paper so that I can fit candles inside comfortably.

What do you think? How was your first DIY project? Did it go as smoothly as possible or were there many tweaks?

*all pictures were taken on my camera*

Box-O-Color

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Living in NYC can be expensive. REALLY expensive! What would normally cost you $5 will cost you $10 in the city. The same goes for salon services. It. Sucks. Since we're all trying to saving every penny for this one special day in our lives, we have to compromise and/or completely forgo spending money on ourselves.

Like many women out there, I dye my hair. I have been since I was in high school. I've been blonde, red, dark brown, reddish brown, purple and green. OK I lied about the last two but you get my point. I like to color my hair. For years I've gone back and forth between salon colored hair and boxed color hair. It all depends on my budget. And of course I find the salon color always trumping the boxed color but honestly my wallet can't keep up with the requirements the salon gives me for touching up.

I'll be honest and admit I got my hair colored by a salon in September just before we were engaged (see picture below) and I haven't had it done since. YIKES! Although, my hair looked pretty dark good in our e-pics if I do say so myself! I toyed with the idea of splurging to get it done again but I just couldn't justify spending $220 on my hair when I could put that money towards the wedding. Yes. $220. That's ridiculous, right?!

*my own picture*

So I went to my local supermarket and randomly picked the box that looks like the nicest. Dead serious. L'Oreal Healthy Look in 5G Medium Brown. Little did I know that it wasn't permanent and washes out in 28 washes, which can be a good thing and a bad thing. Good-if I hated the outcome. Bad - if I liked the outcome and now have to die it in a few weeks again.

Well it was a tad darker than I was expecting but overall I'm happy with my choice and it looks similar to the color I had in September. Score! So only $8 later and I'm a happy bride-to-be!

*my own picture*

Have you made any sacrifices with beauty in order to pay for the wedding? Did they turn out the way you expected?

Something Borrowed

Have you ever had problems thinking of your 'something borrowed'? I just came across an article thanks to my Daily Candy updates that sounds so unique! A brooch bouquet.

Here is how it works: you collect about 50 to 60 brooches, cuff links, watches, earrings, and pendants from your dear friends and family. Once you've collected enough, Amanda Heer who is a florist based in San Juan, will take your box of goodies and create a beautiful bouquet. Not only is it unique but you will have a sentimental heirloom for years to come. Even pass on to your family! How awesome is that!!?? The price: $350. Her website is http://www.broochbouquets.com/.

I wish I thought of this idea before I put my deposit down on my flowers! Would you consider a brooch bouquet instead of real flowers??

*If you haven't already, definitely sign up for Daily Candy e-mails. They are are a great way to find out what's going on in your neighborhood. Everything from wedding stuff to beauty to travel. You won't be disappointed!

Paper Goods: The Saga Continues

I've been going crazy trying to figure out what to do for our invitations and this past weekend I exhausted all my energy into making a final decision. We are going to stick the original plan and print the accommodations and direction insert cards ourselves. A semi kind of DIY project. There are just so many gorgeous invitations out there but for our budget this seems to be the best option for us. I understand that these invites will set the style of our wedding but also people will throw them out eventually and I just can't justify spending $1000 on them.

So the next step was to decide the color font we wanted. These were our options below:

Remember our colors are steel blue so we didn't have an exact match but I did like the marine color. Unfortunately the FI nixed that idea and so he took the reigns for once (shocker!) and he came up with almond. Umm what?! Yes. Almond. See below.

And honestly it's a tad on the lighter side for me. My laptop at home showed it to be brighter than here. I printed it as well and it was OK. I'm just not 100% positive about this choice. I want him to be involved and voice his opinion since thus far he's just let me take control and make the decisions. BUT this color choice isn't what I was expecting. He said it reminds him of the color of sand. Hmmmm, OK. So this morning I fooled around with more colors and I tried the gold and that was better in my eyes:

What do you think? I might now have to find an inspiration board that incorporates gold and blue. Hmmm....this should be interesting!

Has anyone's colors changed half way through planning? Part of me should just accept it but use my blue for the actual wedding day. I mean, who is going to comment that the invites didn't exactly match the colors the day of?! What are your thoughts???

*all pictures come from here

Paper Goods: The Downfall

Delphine Press

I honestly thought that finding THE wedding dress would be the hardest part of wedding planning since there were so many gorgeous gowns out there but I was wrong. Finding an invitation that suits our style and fits our budget is the hardest! Honestly I've stressing hardcore lately since we need to make a decision soon. Ugh.

Like I mentioned earlier I love the envelopment style because it seems to fit our style but I really love how you can put the insert cards in the pockets. We have a lot of information to provide to our guests and I would hate to for them to lose any of it.

I also have fallen in love with letterpress invitations. Hardcore. I've been searching high and low, up and down the internet to find a reasonably priced vendor. Not sure thats helping me in the process to be honest but oh well.

See we can't just have a standard invitation since we are having a destination wedding AND a home reception and its making it harder to find a invite that will provide me enough space for wording but also enough accessories to match as well.

I thought about making a trip to Kate's Paperie in the city to find card stock and print them myself but I really just want this to be done and over with. So this weekend I'm going to sit the FI down and make a final decision hopefully.

Anybody else finding this part of wedding planning stressful???

Get Your Drink On!

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Thanks to a post on weddingbee I just got the best news EVER! According to a recent study, women who drink more gain less weight than women who don't drink alcohol. Whaaaat??? Shut. Up.

Read more about it here!

Of course I won't take this study TOO seriously since I need to lose weight for the big day regardless but at least we can rest assure at night time that having a few drinks won't hurt us as much as we think.....well I think at least!

Do YOU like to Do-It-Yourself?

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I LOVE that line in the movie!! Anyways, I discovered the WWM (Wide World of Martha - Martha Steward that is!) and I can't believe I've been missing out! I bought her latest MSW issue and couldn't put it down!

This morning I decided to explore her website and found THE perfect DIY project for our private reception in the Dominican.

Feast your eyes on these puppies: Striped Vellum Candles

She provides templates in so many colors that I had to pick my jaw up from the ground in shock. From there I decided to google "vellum paper" and it directed me to Paper and More where I scored 8x11 white single vellum sheets for just .50/each! So I instantly bought 10 sheets to try and if all goes well, I will buy some more! I can't wait for them to arrive in the mail!

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy!

CLEARLY I will keep you posted on how it goes but in the mean time, have you ever used vellum paper? any tips?