Glitter!

I. Love. Glitter. Anything with a hint of sparkle makes me smile, so needless to say I had to incorporate that somehow into my wedding. When people ask what my colors are I tell them, "Tardis blue, Gryffindor red, and sparkle." I have been working hard to not carried away with glitter so as not to end up with a wedding that looks more like "Tinkerbell throw up" than a "Winter Wonderland."

This was such a trial-and-error process for me. There is such a wealth of information out there, but sometimes you have to try a bunch of different things before you find was is perfect for you! Boy, was that true in working on these sparkly votive holders... 

Here is how I did it! My mom and I LOVE pesto, so we have been saving the jars as we finish them so we could use them as decoration at the reception.

First step: pull off those labels!

Second step: Soak them in HOT soapy water for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Third step: Take a dish scrubber and put some oil on it to help scrub off the adhesive. I then put the jars back in some soapy water to continue helping the adhesive come off.

Fourth step (if needed): Let the jars sit with some peanut butter on them. If you have the patience and arm strength to scrub all of it off with the scrubber and oil, then you probably won't need to do this, but I needed a little more help to ease that adhesive off.

Fifth step: Figure out how you want to cover them with glitter. My first decision was to use spray bond adhesive on the glass and then cover it in big, chunky, iridescent glitter. It was pretty and looked very snowy. But I decided it was not really "glam" enough for me. So I went to Michael's and found some of Martha Stewart's Fine Glitter Glass Paint (shown on the left in the picture below). I thought this looked gorgeous, but still was not quite sparkly enough. So I finally found this blog: Restyle. Restore. Rejoice. that had an amazing step-by-step tutorial on making objects sparkle! So that is what I did! The finished product is shown on the right in the picture below.

I would love to see your feedback on the projects I am doing! If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

DIY Personalized Napkins

Last summer I went to about four weddings and the ones that were my favorite were the ones that the couple made sure to add personalized touches to without being cheesy and overwhelming. One of the things that I have done to achieve that is napkins with our monogram embossed on them.

I got the embosser from Paper Source and the napkins from Smarty Had a Party. While they have taken a very long time, it's worth it since after the wedding is over they are still usable since they don't have our wedding date plastered on them! It's also just a fun reminder that my initials are changing!

What are some other ideas for adding personal touches to a wedding?

Flower Dilemma

I have always loved flowers... But, they are so flippin' expensive! And then they die. Which is sad, because I don't plan on every letting my relationship with my future hubby die! So, with this logic I decided I was not going to use real flowers in my wedding.

But I am also not a huge fan of fake flowers in large quantities so I felt like I was creating a major problem for myself. Until I found these posts on Pinterest:

Surprise DIY: Satin Ribbon Bouquet

Pretty Petals : Felt flowers tutorial

So adorable! I decided to make ribbon flowers for bouquets and corsages to fit with the glam aspect of the wedding. Then I chose the felt flowers for the bouts, which I feel has a very vintage vibe to it. Together making vintage glam flowers!

Here are some pictures of the works in progress:

And the finished product, thanks to my awesome momma (and to my cousin for taking the first picture)!

To keep with the theme I decided to also make the corsages out of the ribbon flowers! They looked amazing and unique, though if I had done it again I would have used different ribbon since the people that wore them said that the ribbon was so slick it didn't stay tied!

Below is the finished product of all the corsages, groomsmen boutonnieres, and helpers/family boutonnieres: