Long time no...blog?

Whoa... it has been FOREVER since I have been on here! It has been quite the busy summer! Wedding plans (other than obsessive online research) were put on hold because my love deployed to Afghanistan (sad face), we lost a baby (bigger sad face), moved to Virginia, then Montana, did the Under Armour What's Beautiful Fitness Challenge (happy face), lost 20 pounds (bigger happy face), and now...finally packing up to go back to North Carolina. Not my favorite place in the world (don't get offended... I'm sure Montana isn't everyone's cup of tea either), but it is a sure sign that HE is coming back SOON (biggest happy face!) So overall, me and the little stink-baby, are packing up and moving east (south?).

After an entire summer of having to hold off on any new wedding stuff,

 I became an obsessive online planner. 

I have things saved in my Amazon cart,

 pinned on Pinterest, 

emails saved from various vendors,

 a "wedding" folder on my desktop.

 And it is almost time to let it all come out!!

So... stay tuned to see more awesome DIY experiments done by NON-crafty me. Also, I have a few tips on things I have discovered in all my wedding research roundup that I will be sharing. And lots and lots of other things! Are you excited!?! Because I am! 

Bridesmaid Proposal

Finally I get to share this post!
I had to wait for ALL my maids to respond,
 so that I didn't spoil the surprise.

I wanted to ask my

 Maid of Honor and 3 Bridesmaids

In a special way to be a part of my wedding party. 

This is how I asked them... 

While still being mindful of my VERY tight budget, I made these little proposal boxes for my ladies. I found the boxes, filler paper, and rings at the dollar store. Everything else, I already had.


The off-brand Ring Pops came in a pack of 6 so I only had to buy one.

I filled the boxes half full with paper stuffing.

(One bag filled 2 boxes, packed tight.)

Then I put in a little note with details (this made it half was down so it had to be dug up.)                                              

Then filled the box up about an inch

 from the top with more stuffing.

Then I placed my proposal note
and the ring : )
(if my maid accepted the proposal,
they were prompted to dig deeper to find the details note)

Click HERE if you want to see my proposal note and my buried details note.

I opened the ring pop so they could be seen. 

I put plastic wrap around them because they were sticking to the paper.

I secured it with some ribbon. 

Then I taped the lid on,

attached a tag that I made from construction paper and secured it on with a piece of pipe cleaner,

and VOILA, finished product : )

And YAY! They all said "Yes!"

I see the light!

My floating candles came in today! 

I ordered them from Amazon.com 

and ended up getting 42 candles for about 26 bucks! 

I decided to try them out with my petals and my jars. It was time for another experiment.




I wanted to try to make my petals float or somehow look suspended in the water.

So... I took some white thread and strung some petals 

 until I had a short strand and I taped it to the bottom of one of the floating candles. 

It turned out ok. I could see the string but that can be fixed by using fishing line instead or something similar. 

However...

I ended up liking it with the petals on the bottom after all : )

Scientific Experiment

I ordered some silk flower petals from this wedding favors and supplies site. I ordered one package (they come with 500 petals) of each, navy blue and yellow. [The man and the colors seem to be the only thing I've made my mind up about for this wedding!]

I want to save money on real flowers and for only $5 a package, it just felt so right! Here is what I got in the mail...

I did some research on silk petals online before buying these and read that some will sink, and some will float. I also read that you should test your petals before using them in water to see if the color bleeds. So...

Let the experimenting begin!

I took three of my recycled jars and filled them with different water levels just to see how it looked. Then I threw in only yellow petals in one, blue in another, and the third I mixed.

 Before

After 20 minutes

The bleeding was very little to none. Thats at least good news : )

 But as you can see... they in fact, do NOT float. I am only slightly disappointed though because they might still look ok on the bottom when I get candles in there, I can figure out a way to make them float, or I can just use them on the tables for extra color pops. I WILL still be getting my moneys worth from these silk flower petals! 

I will continue to search for better petals. More to follow. 

Spaghetti

Here are some of the ideas for wedding decorations I want to have at my wedding. 

 

SO... what I am doing is saving ALL my spaghetti sauce jars! It is my favorite meal so we eat it often... like a lot. And since my wedding is FAR away (still can't decide on a date : ( But at the earliest October 2012) I should have enough for lots of decorations by the time it finally arrives! 

So far, this is what I've got... 

Not much but at least its a start. 

Glass jars are FAR from cheap. 

So since I'm buying these anyway, 

I might as well recycle them : ) 

When I say my wedding is low-budget, I mean LOW-budget. In other words, I want to get it as close to... free... as possible. But since that actually happening seems impossible, I'm just spending as much time as necessary doing research so that I can spend as little money as possible out of my pocket.

I'm ready to start trying on dresses! 

As soon as someone comes and visits me so I don't have to go alone that is...

I've been eyeing some dresses on this website like this one...

They have a HUGE selection of wedding dresses but a lot of the other dresses also come in white and are just as beautiful and appropriate for a wedding dress. 

Recycle

During my wedding research, thanks to pinterest, I have found a blog with a section that allows brides (or grooms, or really whoever) to recycle decorations and things that they used (or didn't) at their wedding.

What an awesome idea! 

I plan on using this because it has some great deals, the principle of saving (or returning, if you will) another bride some money, and because I want the favor returned someday when I decide to get rid of some of my own wedding decor : ) 

Click here to check it out. 

Finding Forever (or at least where it will be witnessed)

I have had the hardest time finding vendors online for my wedding. After spending countless hours on the computer searching for my perfect spot, I came across a handy website that had it all in one place... ALL of it! (By that I mean locations, caterers, photographers...etc.)

It seems like every search I did brought up vendors from large cities [in] my area, which are not in my area at all, and it said SERVING my area. Um... no. When I say local, I want local.

Well here you go folks- for anyone looking to find local vendors here is the link I used. I hope it saves you hours : )

http://www.eventective.com/

I haven't found my perfect location yet, but at least now I have a list of potentials to go check out. More to follow : )

I Gave

Well, I have officially started my first blog. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because I get to share everything I learn in this experience and nervous because I'm not sure what to expect. I hope everyone enjoys following along as I plan my wedding. I'm still trying to figure out this whole blog setup thing... sorry about that.