A Wedding in the Making

Now that Christmas break is finally here, it's time to start working on the wedding again. After school started in August, it was hard to get anything wedding-related done since we were so busy with everything else. But, now that we have a month off, the wedding to-do's seem endless. The more we do, the more excited I get... I know it's going to be a beautiful day and a great start to what I know will be an incredible marriage!

When we first got engaged, we knew we wanted our wedding to be beautiful, memorable, and affordable. I like to be thrifty anyway, and a wedding seemed like the ultimate challenge. Doing things ourselves was going to be the best way to save money, so I started making a list of the things we could actually do ourselves (preparing brunch for 300 people wasn't on that list... and thankfully, God led us to an amazingly affordable caterer!). From cupcake toppers to wreaths to centerpieces to center aisle ceremony decor... our list has grown to be pretty long. But, now that we are getting started, I'm beginning to see that not only can we do this, but we can do this really well (well... in my opinion, at least!)

So... I bring you a sneak peak of some of the things we are working on for the wedding...


Above & below: My dear friend (and bridesmaid), Beth Lambert, gave us a Martha Stewart Wedding magazine as an engagement gift. Little did she know that one of the projects in the magazine would become the inspiration for our entire wedding! The simple project was to stretch different colored and textured fabrics across various sizes of embroidery hoops.

Simple and darling... I was nervous about whether or not they would look the way Martha said they would, but after I got started on them yesterday, I have to say - they're adorable!! The picture below really doesn't do them justice - but you get the idea. Our wedding colors are white with shades of purple, peach, and pink (much more "girly" than I ever imagined!). The fabrics range from shimmery satin to light organza and matched the colors of our wedding perfectly.

The use of embroidery hoops may seem a little quirky to you, but they are also an homage to my grandmother and great-grandmother, who were fabulous with all-things sewing. And these simple circles are going to be the theme that we carry throughout our entire wedding to tie everything together.

Above: Centerpieces were a bit of a concern to me. I am allergic to flowers, so I really don't care to have floral centerpieces at the reception. So, I'd like to thank my flower allergy for helping keep our budget down!! :) In lieu of flowers, we are going to have these neat little lanterns on several of the tables in the reception hall. We'll probably just put 'em in the middle and scatter some rose petals around... simple AND we got them on sale for just $12 a piece... and they will double as a thank-you gift... and a few of them can eventually decorate our patio. :)

Blake & I are not big cake-eaters, so we are not having a cake at our wedding (plus the reception is at 11am.... who REALLY wants cake at 11am??).... instead, we are having cupcakes!! I am SO stinking excited about the cupcakes because they are DRASTICALLY cheaper than a cake and they're a modern spin on the traditional cake. Plus, we are going to use the above papers (as well as many others not in the picture!) to make our very own cupcake toppers.


Okay, this really has nothing to do with our wedding, but you gotta admit.... it's pretty cute! Elaine has made the Christmas tree her home... we can't put any gifts in front of the tree because she moves them out of the way so she can lay in this particular spot!! Blake was trying to annoy her to get her to move, but she was determined to stay!

I hope I haven't given too much away... I have just been so excited that these projects are working out so beautifully. As I have posted before, we know that weddings can turn into some serious madness including some seriously large bills. Blake and I certainly don't want to start out our marriage in debt because of any big spending, but we still want our wedding to be beautiful and lovely. Thanks to our encouraging (and crafty!) friends and family, I believe that our "dream" wedding is really coming together... one homemade project at a time. :)