So I'll try to be as concise as possible to catch up to the current day. Our wedding will be on July 16, 2011. We will be getting married at The Martin Johnson House in La Jolla, California. It is a historic cottage that sits on a cliff overlooking the ocean. We are going for an elegant rustic, relaxed, (and fun!) feel for our wedding. We have also chosen a photographer, Erica from Acres of Hope Photography. She took pictures for our friend's wedding, and after seeing her work, we knew there was no one else we wanted to capture our day. Her work is exquisite... If you have some time, cozy up with your favorite drink and spend some time looking at her website. Our videographer/cinematographer will be Tom, from Aqua Vivus Productions. Erica recommended him, and his work is also breathtaking. I highly recommend checking out his website as well! They both might move you to tears, so be prepared! So far, that's all we've booked for vendors. Everything else I've done has been personal details. Some things I have purchased, and others are DIY. Here are the projects I've either started, finished, or are currently working on!
Our cake topper I ordered on Amazon.com, and recently I also saw them for sale in the store Papyrus. I fell in love with the simple, rustic feel to it. It's name is Promise and it is by Willow Tree. It is hand carved out of wood, and has delicate carved roses all around the bottom.
These adorable bouquet charms I purchased from Cherry Cheek Designs on Etsy.com. They are completely custom made. You can choose everything from the ribbon color, what designs are stamped onto the charms, as well as the color of the "stone" that dangles from the bottom. I chose blue, for my "something blue", along with our initials and wedding date. I read somewhere that after the wedding, they could be used as charms for a necklace. Cute idea!
In my blog searching, I saw a lot of different ideas for things to use for guests to place cards in on the gift table. I was drawn to the idea of using a birdcage. The cards can be slid right through the wire. I wanted a cage that had a vintage, wood look. I found a cage at a local antique store, but it was painted white. I thought maybe I could fix it. Dave tried to help me, and after our best shot, we ended up making it look worse by painting it brown. It looked like a shiny Hershey's chocolate bar. Not exactly the wood, ornate romantic look I was imagining. So I was on the hunt again for another cage. We found this one at an antique store in Santa Barbara. I added a little bit of wood stain to darken it a little. The "Cards" sign I printed out using Microsoft office. The font is called "Chopin" and I found it on dafont.com, which is a great website that offers tons of free font downloads. I am also going to add some ribbon in our colors to the back of the "cards" sign to weave through the birdcage wire to hold the sign in place, once we decide exactly what our colors will be.
Of course I had to have little bride and groom birds for the cage. All I could find at craft stores were funky birds made with cheap looking feathers and scary eyes. I stumbled across some sweet looking "fuzzy" birds on etsy and found out they were made out of felt. It is called needle felting, and although I enjoy crafts, this was best left to professionals! I purchased my birds from Seaside Siren on Etsy.com. I was able to choose the color of the birds, as well as the color of the hearts on their chests. They came, "undressed". I made the veil, top hat and bow tie myself. The veil is net fabric, thin ribbon and a rhinestone button, stuck together with a combination of hand sewing and a hot glue gun. The top hat and bow tie I hand sewed out of regular felt.
My "I DO" letters were purchased at JoAnn Fabric & Craft store. They came painted white, but you can also find them in unfinished wood. Also, all of the letters stand up on their own, which was a feature I liked! I made the flowers using mostly scrapbooking supplies; paper, pre-cut flowers and punch tools. I also used scrapbooking pearl stickers and rhinestone buttons for the middle of the flowers. I stuck them all together with good old Elmer's glue! I haven't attached the flowers to the letters yet. I'm thinking that I might cover the letters with lace, or some kind of pale, vintage fabric... we'll see! I think these may also be our colors. We both like these reds and browns, and it seems to go with the elegant rustic feel. I think we might put these on the cake table.
This "Happily Ever After Starts Here" sign I purchased from a wonderful woman named Cheryl who's store is called"My Primitive Boutique" on Etsy.com. Cheryl was great to work with! She will literally made a sign any way you want it. All of my experiences on Etsy have been positive. Everyone is so helpful and super quick. You can find so many things to personalize your day in a special way! We are going to get two uses out of the sign. We are going to use it as a prop for our engagement pictures, as well as placing it at the entrance of our venue on the wedding day.
I found this plate stand at a home decor shop in Santa Barbara as well. I tried all sorts of things in the middle of the flowers... buttons, fabric, small pre-made flowers, beads, rhinestones...none of which looked right. I finally used scrapbooking pearl's that have sticky backs. The stand turned out pretty, I hope! I was thinking about using this for our "guest book" sign, but I'm still not sure. The sign in the picture is just to give an idea of what it might look like.
Another prop for our engagement pictures will be this chair. I was so excited when I found it, for this was my biggest bargain find yet. I found the chair at a Salvation Army thrift store for $10.00! It needs a little sprucing up, but I love taking things like this on. It will be sanded, re stained, and the cushion reupholstered. This is my current project and I will be sure to post the finished project. Here is the bef
ore...stay tuned for the after!
ore...stay tuned for the after!
