For Sale: $800 obo

This was my first inspiration board. I wish I were certain where all of the picutres came from. To the best of my knowledge:

Row 1:???,???, Picture we took of our ceremony site (during a different season)

Row 2: ???,???, Snippet and Ink, ShopKetubah.com, PaperSource

Row 3: ???, Jcrew, Anthropologie, Anthropologie

Row 4: ebay, weddingpaperdivas.com, ????, ???, Snippet and Ink

Of course the final look isn't quite the same, but I suppose it never is!

If you know the link, pllease let me know! I feel bad for not having all of the pictures attributed.

So our original budget was $15,000. . . . and we actually made it!!!

We made the decision to splurge on:

The Photography - $2000

The Rabbi (We want to have the rabbi that is doing my conversion to officiate at our ceremony. That means that we will be flying him to our venue and paying for him to stay overnight.) - $750

The food (I loooooooooooove good food and I really wanted to have a nice meal at the wedding) -$3000

Beverage - $1700

String Trio (in honor of my grandpa that loved music) - $700

My dress, alterations, accessories, hair, and makeup (I guess I'm just too vain, but I've always dreamed of feeling beautiful on our wedding day. . .)- $2000 . . . and a second dress for a trash the dress shoot . . . and a third dress when I gained enough weight that my seamstress said "too tight in the hips" and "lose weight before the wedding" . . . means I'm out another $1000

Day of Coordinator (I don't handle stress well) - $1000 . . . and an extra person . . . +$200 more

That leaves slightly less than $4000 for EVERYTHING else. Other big ticket items were:

Chuppah (I over-ordered raw materials, but total cost for ALL materials was) - $650

Table Numbers/Centerpieces - $350

Invitations (50+) - $300

Altogether the total cost will be $16,100 $16,000 including tips and tax. We went a tad over-budget, but not terribly. Everything is booked (with contracts) and I'm done with projects mostly. We paid for just under half of the wedding and my parents are covering the rest of the cost. Things not included in the budget are: rings, honeymoon, hotel room, wedding gifts to each other, and the suit (he had one).

It makes me cringe to see how much money we are spending in relation to this event. I see so many places where I could have done something differently and saved another $100, but it's a bit late now to go back and change things.

I try to make myself feel better by adding up the money I saved with DIY projects (a little over $5300) and through bargain hunting/"the look for less decisions" (around $10,000).

Hopefully, I can also sell some things after the wedding and maybe recoup $1000 or so. That would put the total expenditure at budget. ;)

Our babies!

OK, these have NOTHING to do with our theme, but we thought they were fun!

I completely fell in love with the hand drawn maps on some of the invitation sites, but just couldn't justify the expense. I decided to try to make my own. To get the streets in at least roughly the correct location, I printed out a map of the area from Google Maps. I used a sharpie to darken the streets I wanted to include. I then traced over them (with the aid of a ruler) to get the streets in position. I used my not so hot cursive skills to fill in the names and then put in some small (albeit not so detailed) details regarding ceremony etc.

Cuttlebugs rule! The Map insert is in a post above!

Again, I could probably have saved money by scrounging for leftover wood somewhere, but I got lazy and bought a sign board at Michael's. The moss was left from centerpieces as were the key and butterfly. I used the same acrylic paints that I used on the parasol. I printed out the words I wanted to use on the computer and traced them onto my primed board. I then painted over them with acrylic paint. To attach the moss, key, and butterfly I just used the ever-reliable hot glue gun. We're planning to hang the sign on the gate leading to the garden where the ceremony will take place.

Here's a picture from below of the chuppah we made. We all labored over this project for weeks, but it was definitely worth it!

Here's another picture of us under our newly constructed chuppah.

This picture shows how my fiance attached the birch pole to the umbrella base. He used a circular saw to shave the base down to a 3" diameter to fit in the opening. He also modified the base so that a single screw could be put through the bottom.

We also added drawer pulls from Anthropologie to the top to provide a place to tie the fabric.

Since we're having a daytime summer wedding, I thought that providing the guests with fans would be nice. The 110 lb cardstock was a bit flimsy so I ended up using two pieces of cardstock, one blue, one white. I cut the blue cardstock into thirds width-wise and then used the cuttlebug to emboss the pieces. I then printed the program on the white cardstock witha laser printer. I used spray glue to glue the embossed pieces onto the white and then used the guidelines printed on the white to cut out each fan blade. I attached them with a matching blue brad (for some reason my eyelet application rendered the blades immobile).

I made one for Michael, one for his father, and one for my father. We don't have a bridal party, so I only needed three. I had leftover ribbon from some other paper projects, twigs and feathers from the centerpieces, and lavender from the invitations. So sum total these were essentially free!

Since I made the boutonnieres for the men, I thought I should also make something for the mothers. They're essentially larger boutonniers with a bit more of a feminine feel.

The key motif is meant the match the original "secret garden" theme. Secret garden kind of morphed into "birds, damask, lavender, keys, outdoors/indoors juxtaposition" theme, but the bag still matches, sort of.

My grandpa passed away this year (will be approximately 1 calendar year before our wedding), and my biggest regret is that he won't be there to give the blessing before the meal. The year before he died I spent writing him letters even though his post-polio syndrome was so bad that he could no longer write back. I wrote him over 100 pages of letters.

To remember him, as well as my other grandparents that have passed, I wanted to display their pictures at the ceremony and reception. Rather than leave an empty chair or have a table, we decided to hang their pictures from trees.

I printed their pictures and used mats that I found at the craft store as lightweight frames. I covered the frames with decorations (sheet music, old book pages, etc.) and glued ribbons to them. I kept these very simple (rather than add too many beads and feathers) because I wanted to focus on the person in the picture.

Ok, so these aren't so exciting, but I still count them as a DIY project. Cardstock, laser printer, glue, ribbon, done!

Ok, so these are halfway done since we don't have any responses yet considering we won't send the invitations for another 2-3 months. basically, they're supposed to look like frames. I have a board that I upholstered in a larger wooden frame to pin them on. I'll try to find a picture of that somewhere.

uh oh, another Martha Stewart. I know, I should have held out, thought of something on my own, but . . . but she has so many projects and there are instructions . . . and I was sooo burned out. Besides, technically this isn't a ring bearer pillow, it's a pincushion for the guests to put the pins that are holding the escort cards to the board in after they remove them. . . I know, excuses excuses

My table number were actually featured on StyleMePretty.com during DIY week. I was sooo excited. This tableau is a little closer to how they will be used at the wedding (though I'll only have one jar per table!) Detailed instructions are on StyleMePretty.com, so I won't repost them here.

So this picture is terrible. I was having trouble with reflections. These are also the magnets that turned out less well (hence why they're not packaged up). It's essentially the typical flat glass marble over pretty paper project with a very strong magnet glued on the back.

I really wanted to pull elements of damask into the wedding, but I didn't like the one damask favor box I was able to find commercially. I had already used Traditions damask fabric for another project (which I'll add later). So low and behold, when I saw Madison damask fabric (same site), which is identical except with a smaller repeat, I thought it would be perfect for this project. Not being one to reinvent the wheel, I went online and found a template for pillow boxes. I can't actually remember what site I used, but if you type "pillow box template" into Google and then go to images, there are a number of free ones. I printed them out on plain white cardstock. I then glued the cardstock to the fabric (printed side up) with strong spray glue. I cut out each pillow box after the glue dried, folded them along the lines, and the glued them together. I ended up using my handy-dandy hot glue gun because it was faster and easier than the fabric glue. I filled them with the magnet favors (yet another post) and tied them with a color-coordinating (to the rest of the wedding) ribbon. Voila!

I actually bought the plain white stand off of craigslist for $40. I had seen a picture of blue cupcakes (one of our wedding colors) online that I loved (see Inspiration Board post). I bought some damask fabric online and covered the top of the tiers with it. I then used black grossgrain ribbon around the edges. The caketopper that you can see in the photo was another project that I'll probably post later.

I'm hoping that I don't get angry e-mails for this post. I couldn't afford the beautiful Ann Woods caketoppers. I also was looking for a way to incorporate fabric from my mother's wedding dress into the ceremony. I have never in my life seen an Ann Woods bird in person. I have never handled one, nor seen a pattern.

That being said, I made the female bird from fabric from my mother's wedding dress. I had to bleach parts of it because it was so yellowed. It was quite challenging considering how frayed it was. I practiced first with muslin and made a series of patterns that after 10 or so iterations began to look somewhat "bird like." The beak is the bottom of a golf tee and the legs are wire covered with paper-mache and then glitter. I think I had to make about 10 to get 4 that weren't too lumpy looking. I ended up hot-gluing the legs to the stuffed body and then to the base for stability. I added lavender and a key as an after-thought to try to tie it together with the rest of the wedding.

I wanted to create a whimsical feeling in the garden, but we're also on a pretty tight budget. I had some old sheet music that I wanted to somehow incorporate into the theme and decor. I considered petal cones (but we're going with bubbles instead so we don't have to clean up confetti). I had already finished programs and all things paper, so I decided to make these for the trees.

We had a birdcage we bought on sale years ago that I decided to repurpose. It's hard to see in this pictuer, but each color of cardstock has either the word Wish, Prediction, or Advice printed on it.

I bought some parasols on craigslist for $5 each (in retrospect I think I could have found a better deal, but oh well). I then free-hand wrote Just Married on the parasol and painted over it in black acrylic paint

Ok, so maybe my creative juices started to run out towards the end of the project list. I think there are around 30 altogether depending on how you count. These cards are straight from the files of . . . ::gasp::. . . Martha Stewart. Ok, I went over to the darkside, just don't tell anyone please.

I had some dupioni silk left from making the leaves and branches for the chuppah pictured in the first entry. I made three small pillows and filled them with potpourri and sewed them closed. I wanted to give my FMIL something as a thank you for travelling to the wedding (FFIL is getting tie).

My sister is the consumate hostess; she has Thanksgiving dinner parties of 20+ and doesn't break a sweat. I used some of my Traditions damask to make her a hostess apron for when she entertains.

I made a damask tote bag for another reader from my cotton duck and dupioni silk. :)

This tote bag has 4 pockets on the front (though it's difficult to see because of the pattern). It is also lined in dupioni silk. The pattern is curtesy of Martha Stewart. It's my version of her bias tape bag. . . minus the bias tape.

I suppose I should retake this picture, but I'm too tired right now. It's ivory velvet ribbon, book pages, a pink Welcome banner, and a few buttons. I putting water, gourmet salt, brochures, postcards, and soap in it. Ok, seriously random, but whatever.