Two years of planning our dream wedding in the sun

[Marymack]

Love your story!!! Waiting for the next installment!!

[mstigger]

I can't wait to hear the rest of your story! BTW I love the dress. I got mine from kissdresses.com....also in China and paid $150 and it's an amazing dress!!!

So glad to know I'm not alone with the OOT bags, they are killing me!!!!

Thanks so much!!

[mae1564]

Hi! And thank you all for the kind words, it’s so nice to know that there are people out there who actually see my posts!

 

So recently, I’ve had requests on how to make my place card settings so I thought I would share my (favorite) DIY J

 

 

I originally saw these on etsy and just HAD to have them. With my small group of 11 (they came in quantities of 12) it was very reasonable to spend a couple bucks per bottle for place settings. Well, last minute I had 4 more people add onto our group. I emailed the seller to see if she could do a special listing of 15 instead of me having to buy two dozen. And what was her response?

 

“Absolutely not! It is not worth the time and effort for me to break down these sets for anything less than a dozen at a time.â€

 

Naturally, someone would rather lose a sale all-together than accommodate their buyers. I, in turn decided that I didn’t need her stupid bottles and I can do this on my own! J

 

I bought the bottles, sand, charms, and philippine seashells on eBay. I printed the names off my computer (font size 8) and cut them to size. And I bought the ribbon at WalMart. All together, it cost me $25 to do what that lady was going to charge me $80 for….. and it only took 1 hour to put them all together. Now, it would seem to me that, if I were in her shoes and someone wanted to pay me $80 for an hour’s worth of work I would be all over it!

 

This could have actually been even cheaper because the day after I bought the sand on eBay for $5, I found a big bottle of craft sand at the dollar store. Go figure. My loss, your gain!

 

Another tip that I have for you is that when cutting out the names to go in the bottles, leave excess on the ends so that it just fits inside the bottle. It helps the paper to stand up while in there. Oh, and kinda pinch it just a bit so there is a bend in the paper, this will help the paper lie against the back of the bottle. It helps to have tweezers available in case you need to get the paper back out of the bottle. Once you get it all in there you just have to kinda shake everything into place, lol. Also, the charms help the bottle from rolling around.

 

I think that about covers it, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

[mae1564]

So, I had a small group come with us and I in strived every way possible to say thank you to each one of our guests. I don't like the traditional guest books, I think they are boring and what do you even do with them? It's a book full of signatures of each of your guests, and thats it. As my husband and I were talking about all the people who were coming with us, we decided that we would do a book and thank each person individually.

 

The way the book starts is a story of my husband and I, it tells the story through pictures and then goes into a page that thanks everyone in general. From there, there are pictures of us with our guests such as pictures of the maid of honor and I in highschool, and growing up. Next to those pictures is a small personal note from us to them.

 

The Front:

 

 

The Back:

 

 

Inside:

 

 

A place for our guests to share their memories...

 

 

This turned out so well. We had one person in charge of getting this around, and we brought it out while my husband and I were doing pictures after the ceremony. There wasn't room in our budget for a cocktail hour, so they all went to one of the bars (where the alcohol was already free) ordered some drinks and went through this book. It worked perfectly!

 

So, since I just loved this book so much I made our wedding album through the same company. The wedding album turned out better because the program takes time to learn and get used to. I played and worked hard on our wedding album and it turned out so great!

 

 

I love this cover, because I think it just shows us. We aren't stiff people, the trip and wedding were all about fun. We are goofy and love to smile, so why not showcase that?

 

 

One of the great things about these books is that you can really tell a story with the pictures. The book starts with "The Details" and then goes into "Getting Ready" and moves the story from there.

 

 

I love these two page spreads. I only did a couple of them, but there were some pictures that were just so deserving of their own two pages.

 

 

And the back, such a calm moment for us in all the crazy.

 

 

So you probably want to know where I ordered these books from. I went through www.MyPublisher.com I found out about this website from another planning thread Allisons Tequila planning thread (sorry I don't remember the whole title) but she posted a coupon for everyone to use... and I love coupons So if you go to http://www.mypublisher.com/friend you will get $20 off your order! They run great deals all the time, and well I just love them.

[DiggityDawn]

Love the books! Thanks for sharing!

[kard613]

Hi! And thank you all for the kind words, it’s so nice to know that there are people out there who actually see my posts! So recently, I’ve had requests on how to make my place card settings so I thought I would share my (favorite) DIY J I originally saw these on etsy and just HAD to have them. With my small group of 11 (they came in quantities of 12) it was very reasonable to spend a couple bucks per bottle for place settings. Well, last minute I had 4 more people add onto our group. I emailed the seller to see if she could do a special listing of 15 instead of me having to buy two dozen. And what was her response? “Absolutely not! It is not worth the time and effort for me to break down these sets for anything less than a dozen at a time.†Naturally, someone would rather lose a sale all-together than accommodate their buyers. I, in turn decided that I didn’t need her stupid bottles and I can do this on my own! J I bought the bottles, sand, charms, and philippine seashells on eBay. I printed the names off my computer (font size 8) and cut them to size. And I bought the ribbon at WalMart. All together, it cost me $25 to do what that lady was going to charge me $80 for….. and it only took 1 hour to put them all together. Now, it would seem to me that, if I were in her shoes and someone wanted to pay me $80 for an hour’s worth of work I would be all over it! This could have actually been even cheaper because the day after I bought the sand on eBay for $5, I found a big bottle of craft sand at the dollar store. Go figure. My loss, your gain! Another tip that I have for you is that when cutting out the names to go in the bottles, leave excess on the ends so that it just fits inside the bottle. It helps the paper to stand up while in there. Oh, and kinda pinch it just a bit so there is a bend in the paper, this will help the paper lie against the back of the bottle. It helps to have tweezers available in case you need to get the paper back out of the bottle. Once you get it all in there you just have to kinda shake everything into place, lol. Also, the charms help the bottle from rolling around. I think that about covers it, I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

I love reading these p,naming journals, thanks so much for taking the time to write it and I can't wait to see pictures from the ceremony and reception!

[mckievme]

We wanted to get photobooks from our photographers but they seemed so expensive! Thanks for letting me know how you did yours! 

[WesnKris]

I love this!!

[loquaciouspunky]

love the place settings! so creative!

Can you tell me who did your monogram?

[kbride2014]

Beautiful!!!