Crafts & Cocktails Party

A month or so ago, as I began to stress over how quickly the wedding was is approaching (and my lack of DIY productivity), I decided to invite a dozen or so friends over for a crafting party. I'm very lucky to have so many fantastic friends and a little sister (MOH), most of which had already offered to help me. I could not think of a better way to involve them in this process than by inviting them all over together for some bonding time and of course, drinks and treats!

We failed to get pictures of everyone from early on, but Big Spoon did snap some of us assembling the wedding wands and I snapped a few after the party of our projects. I'm still on cloud nine with how well everything went. We completed the following projects within a five hour span:

• Wedding Invitations (70) - RSVP postcards stamped, assembled and stuffed into envelopes.
• Shower invites (50) - all pieces stuffed into envelopes
• Candy Buffet Favor Bags (100) - tags and spoon charm sewn onto bags
• Wedding Signs (3) - hardware added to the backs
• Wedding Wands (80) - tied, beaded and better than I imagined!

I truly had a blast and I think the ladies did too! Big Spoon was adorably attentive and checked on us from time to time. Miss Jasmin's fiance dropped her off and toted in the most lovely arrangement of hyacinth ever! They smell like heaven.

A million thanks to Beth, Stacey, Bethany, Krista, Jasmin, Jackie, Brittany and Melissa for their hard work. And to Big Spoon for being awesome as always. Thanks for being a part of our wedding process. Love you all!

 {favor bags}

{wedding wands}

{sorted invitations waiting to be addressed}

111 Days to Go

It is safe to say that planning has ground to a slow crawl at this point. We are SO CLOSE to being finished, yet, so far ... I just want to wave a magic wand and have all of my DIY projects completed!

So far this month: 

• I turned 28
• I saw Krista Becom[e] Mrs. Dial
• purchased this expensive-ass bra (after which I realized that I have a Dillard's gift card from my FMIL, so I'll be taking it back and re-purchasing with the gift card).
• took some "nearly naughty" photos! (We won a photography package back in October at a bridal show, so it was the equivalent of a free "boudoir" session. Can't wait to see the photos later in the month).
• registered for gifts at Bed, Bath & Beyond

My "to-do" list for June includes:

• pay lots of attention to Big Spoon
• host "Crafts & Cocktails" party on the 26th - I'm hoping to get all the invites assembled as well as shower invitations and wedding wands.
• complete and submit the music playlists for the ceremony and reception.
• pick up my wedding dress from Sarah Mallory!
• update my planning binder
• screw cleaning because it's not as important as the wedding (I tell myself this over and over, everyday)

Whew! There's a lot to do before the 30th. Happy first day of summer, y'all!

130 Days Update

In 130 days, I'll be walking down a little brick path on my Daddy's arm to my groom. In the meantime, I have a ton of little details to attend to!

First, an update on my wedding band: it worked! About two weeks ago, I found a fabulous deal on a diamond wedding band, which I talked about here. I dropped both the band and my engagement ring off at Wholesale Jewelers on Saturday. I really hated not having my engagement ring for a few days, but boy, was it worth it! The thing is, my diamond was not set properly. Having the wedding band sized was a great opportunity for me to ask the store to reset my engagement ring. It looks SO MUCH better that it's almost unbelievable.

The total cost of my wedding band including sizing is $83.52 - I know that I am going to love wearing these two together for a long, long time!

Next up, I have completed our wedding invites! I have one or two more pieces to print, but it's relatively minor. The invitation suite is three parts plus an envelope: invitation, RSVP postcard and an information/map card. And I trimmed them ALL by hand (that's called "glutton for punishment" folks) Would you like a sneak peek of our invitation suite? It's the RSVP postcard ... I'll have to photograph better when I show you the real deal.

I'm hosting a "Crafts & Cocktails" party in three weeks and I'm so excited about it! A few of my girlfriends are coming over to help me assemble the invitations (and hopefully some other things as well, like wedding wands and shower invites!) It's a little soon, but the more I have off my plate before July, the more time I have for other projects!

Partying together

Little Spoon and I have been preparing for a party for my work for three days now, and now that it's finished, I can safely say I would have made a mess of of it by myself. She helped substantially with cleaning up the house, and she had several excellent ideas regarding drinks (e.g., getting a couple of tubs at Big Lots to contain ice and beverages, putting the bottles and cans into the tubs before pouring the ice in them) that saved me. I took charge of picking up the living room, vacuuming the house, hosing off our outdoor tables and chairs, and arranging the tables and chairs for maximum viewing pleasure and traffic flow.

However, we would have both been run into the ground had we not gotten the event catered. Fortunately, I was given permission to hire someone to provide the food, and I chose Down South Delights for the job based on our successful tasting for our wedding reception. I called Rita on Wednesday morning; after learning that she didn't have any events planned for this weekend, we planned out the party on the phone. She guided me through the process with aplomb, calming my nerves and making loads of helpful suggestions to make a nice, informal party. We started with our wedding reception menu, keeping the finger sandwiches, chicken salad croissants, and fruit and cheese platter. We replaced three heavy reception hors d'oeuvres with buffalo wings, spinach dip and cheese, and flatbread pizzas. The food was a big hit, and many people complimented us on the plentiful spread.

It was great to have this catering to take the load off us both, and I appreciated Little Spoon's help in assembling a party for over 30 people. It's the first time I've ever hosted something that large, and with her help, I'm sure we'll be able to do so again easily.