What I wouldn't do DIY again for my wedding

We did many DIY projects for our wedding, and tried very hard to get as many as possible done ourselves. However there were a few that were more time intensive and not work the money saved in the end. Here are the top 2 I would have done by someone else.

1. Table cloths. We purchased our 120" round white table cloths off of Amazon and through Craigslist. We paid a total of over $100 for everything needed, and in the end we hope to see $40 dollars. First, you have to haul them everywhere and they are heavy! Second, they are not always pressed (at least if you rent them, they are somewhat pressed). Third, washing them is worse than you think. I have spent hours washing ours and not everything comes out (even with bleach).
In the end, this is something I would have rented from our table company instead of purchasing and then trying to resell. Things we rented (Round Tables, Napkins, Bar).

2. Flowers, this  is something VERY time sensitive (if you are doing fresh), and you just don't have the time. We did a test run before the wedding, and ended up getting a florist. Couldn't have been more excited for that decision! I just went and picked everything up, and it cost us around $350 for everything. So I mean, it wasn't cheap, but everything was done for us! One less thing to worry about the day of.

3. A DJ, we were going to have our own Ipod as a DJ. If you really wanted the dancing experience, please hire someone. We started to compile music and were wondering, how much more time and money it was going to take to do it, and in the end it was just not worth it to us.Who else is going to have a microphone for your ceremony, and who else is going to announce you with that same microphone when you enter the reception. In the end we had a blast and he was inexpensive! Or get a friend to do it.

Come back soon to check out the projects I would DIY for my wedding again!

Our wedding Part One: Vendors

So your getting married and your thinking about doing it all yourself. We just got married in September, and we decided do a DIY wedding. The reason we started to do a DIY wedding was because we had a few important things we couldn't get anywhere else:

1. Location: We wanted a place that allowed our family from all over the state and out of state to stay if they would like. Also a place that didn't restrict us on time, alcohol or other vendors.

2. Food: We also wanted good food. Lately we have been having food that tastes like plastic and you knew it wasn't cheap. 

3. Music: We also knew we are dancing people. So having an awesome DJ that didn't play slow songs all the time, or weird 70's music was important.

4. Photography: I love photography, but I also love a natural look. We wanted someone that understood that and would be willing to work in our unique setting.

Location

So lets start with picking a location. We are located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. We wanted to stay close since we were doing everything DIY. I was originally looking for a barn (see below for some awesome barn wedding sites around us). But that proved to be more difficult then I thought (all had too many restrictions or no bathroom). 

So we moved on to Camp Grounds and rental homes. Which all proved to be too small for our 120 person wedding.

Being a Girl Scout I convinced my husband to go and check it out. We could rent the whole camp ground from Friday to Sunday, and pretty much do whatever we wanted. So this became a true DIY project. The best part of this was there were cabins for our families to stay at starting the night before the wedding and continuing on after the wedding. We also had ample time to set up and clean up. The total cost for our venue sight was less than putting everyone up in a hotel and paying for a venue to had restrictions ( less than $1,400). 

This is outside of where we had our Reception (Stony Lodge). 

Here were the places of the camp we used:

Cabins, Dining Hall (Stony Lodge), Old Lodge ( were I got ready), Bath House and Harriet Hall.

Harriet Hall was a new addition to the camp, where has a full kitchen and eat in area with fire places. The hall is also surrounded by all the cabins. So this was where we had a rehearsal dinner and the after wedding breakfast to open gifts. 

A few downfalls of this type of location:

1. Bathrooms were a walk away. We ended up renting a porta-jon for our older guests that couldn't make the trek up to the bath house.

2. Watch for outlets. Sometimes they are plenty sometimes they are not.

3. Understand you are staying at a camp, it isn't always clean you may have to do some pre-cleaning before you even start setting up.

If you are interested in Camp Merrie Wood you can learn more here: http://www.gshom.org/about/rentals.html

Food

We wanted awesome food, but we didn't want to pay $25/plate. So we started looking outside the box on that as well. We thought about the best food we had in previous events (not just weddings). We went for a few tastings at various BBQ Catering Joints, and a few Pig Roast places. We found our love in Scott's Pig Roast. They cater, are professional, but also realistic about time and money. We paid less than $18/person and that included our dessert of Apple and Cherry Cobbler. 

What was included in this:

2 Meats (We chose Chicken and Brisket)

4 sides ( Red skin potatoes, Mac & Cheese, Fruit Salad, Pasta Salad)

Rolls

And our choice of two cobblers

Not only did people love our food, we also got to keep all the left overs. Mind you we were giving away food the next day, but at least we didn't go hungry for the next few weeks. 

We also decided to feed people appetizers. We did this ourselves as well, I chopped up the veggies the day before and then someone plated them, put plastic wrap over them, and we just laid them out before the wedding. We also bought cheese cubes from Sam's Club with crackers. This did just fine. We did have too much though. So we now have plenty of cheese and crackers. 120 people and 20 lbs of cubed cheese is too much! our total for appetizers with plastic clear plates was $200. 

Overall this is one thing I would never change about our wedding! :)

If you are interested in Scott's check them out here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Scotts-Pig-Roast/162536233771596?fref=ts

Music

Finding a DJ is just like finding a Photographer. LOOK AROUND. And if you really don't want to party through the night there are ways to do it yourself. But we decided we wanted to pay and have someone else stress about having awesome music and MCing our wedding throughout the night. 

The way we were able to find them was through Facebook. He had glowing reviews, and was $500 for as long as you wanted him! Awesome since most you pay for a set time and when they are done they are done!

We met with him multiple times before the wedding, and he gave us the time of day needed. He played music we had sent to him, and was easy to work with. THIS IS IMPORTANT. You don't want someone set in their ways. You want someone willing to work with you, and check out your unique venue before the wedding weekend. He made it clear to us our first choice to have the reception would result in us not having sound. But he also was willing to suggest another place to have the reception where we could have sound.

If you are interested in our DJ you can check him out at: 

https://www.facebook.com/DBFamilyPhotography?fref=ts

Denis also does amazing Photography.

Photography

I spent all too long looking for someone to do our photography here are a few important things to look for when working on a budget:

1. Do they give you a print release: This means you can print your pictures on your own via a CD.

2. How long will they stay? Just for the Ceremony and then 2 hours after? what is their time allotment?

3. Will they include anything else such as Engagement pictures?

4. How far will they travel before they start to charge?

5. Are these pictures worth holding on to for the rest of your life? This pictures are going to be your best memory of the day, you want to have them to remember what exactly happened, and to save those special moments you will never have again.

Our Photography was down to earth, which was very important to us. She wasn't afraid to try new things and gave us our print release. She started from when I started to get my hair done to almost 9pm at night. She worked almost 12 hours. She was also willing to travel without extra charge.She also included an Engagement session. Her cost was $1,000. And worth every penny.

Courtesy of Arowyn Photography

If you like our wedding photography check her out here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Arowyn-Photography/180571887510?fref=ts

In the end our research paid off. We loved all our vendors and couldn't have asked for a better situation. Remember to take the time to look at all aspects before you jump into binding contracts!

Coming up next on Present Day Doris Day "What we bought vs. what we rented" and "Our wedding budget"

Vow Vox Box via Influenster

 I just received my first Vox Box. I received the Vow Vox Box, which included, Olay Regenerist Luminous, Tide stick, EcoTools Sponge, Pure Silk Shaving Cream and Sally Hansen Barracuda Salon Effects Nail Polish. Via Influenster.

I know I already love having a Tide stick, the only thing is that I wish the tip of the stick didn't break off so easy. 
I tried the EcoTools sponge, and it feels like Styrofoam at first but when it gets wet it is very nice to use on your face. I don't know that I would purchase it myself, but I did enjoy trying it out and it helped with make-up removal.
I forget how nice it is to use Shave Gel from Pure Silk. Makes everything so so smooth! :)

I have yet to try the Nail polish or the Regenerist Cream, but I plan to this weekend. I know I already love the color of the nail polish, so I can't wait to see how long it can hold up. :)

Dog eating too Fast?

Is your dog eating too fast? Our new addition of 4 months, now 5 months was eating out of a metal dish and was gobbling so quickly he was getting sick. So I started to do some investigation. Interactive treat toys and food toys can help with this. I thought this was going to be a choir and just one more thing to do! Well I was proved wrong again. :)

I found many different options on the Petsafe website. http://store.petsafe.net/pet-care/page/2

I was very interested in the Magic Mushroom because you could change the settings to dispense more and less however we could only the twist and treat. Which comes in 3 different sizes and also they have a smaller puppy version. But since Chex is 35+ lbs, we just got the large. He loves it!

We give him 4 out of his 5 meals in it, and he just rolls it around the house. Some kibble may back it up and you may have to open it up half way through, but it is something he really enjoys and also doesn't get sick from eating too fast anymore.

Check it out here: Twist N Treat

Keep Calm and Pet a Pup

Vintage Chic DIY Wedding Invitations

We are getting married at a Girl Scout Camp and would like to stick with the rustic feel. We both have been in love with Ball Jars since we were kids, and grew up around them, so we are looking for an at home vibe.
The idea of spending more than 200 bones on wedding invitations gave me a fright. So I starting digging deep into Pinterest, I found a few things I really liked.


I got the template from this lovely women who shared her ideas:

http://mrsfancee.wordpress.com/2013/06/04/lace-doily-diy-wedding-invitations/

Here is the Recipe: (125 invites)
Half off 8 1/2 by 11 (100 weight) Cardstock at Michaels- 75 pages (2 per Page)
Kraft Paper Envelopes from Hobby Lobby- 50 for 6.99 and you can use your 40% off coupon.
Vellum- 3 invitations per 8 1/2 x 11 sheet (this was the most expensive and wasteful part of the process)- Each sheet was $1, but we couponed it to be less.

She did hers in word and you definitely have to play around with the text boxes to make it work, but when it does it blows your mind! I also had to change the words since we have different parent situations than her. But here is a peek at how my invitations turned out. Also we did a back to ours with the directions on it. So that makes it a bit tricky.

And then I sewed on Vellum to the top, which isn't as hard as you would think. I just used white thread, and found the vellum at Michaels.

Here are some of the fonts I used: (downloaded from sites off of pinterest)

Names, website, time: Oranienbaum

And: Bergamot Ornaments

Number: EcuyerDAX

Month & City, State: Bodoni MT Black

Venue & Reception to immediately follow: Sail

With their Families: KG Eyes Wide Open

I got the middle graphic from here:

http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/2013/11/12-stunning-free-rustic-graphics.html

This website is also where i got my wreath from for the back of my RSVP cards and for the front of my RSVP Cards.

Here is the back with the map on it. 

Fonts:

Camp Name & RSVP Info: EcuyerDAX

Address: Oranienbaum

Exit info: KG Eyes Wide Open

To make the Vellum look lacey I used a Martha Stewart Edge punch I found at Michael's. 

I really wanted a postcard response to save money on postage. Here is a blend between what she used on her blog and what I used for my invitations. I got all my wreaths off Pinterest here: http://www.welivedhappilyeverafter.com/2013/11/12-stunning-free-rustic-graphics.html

Fonts:

Kindly: Some Weatz Swash

RSVP: LT Nutshell Library

By: Oranienbaum

Date: Bodoni MT Black

the Rest: KG Eyes Wide Open

Since we have such a limited number of seats for our reception we decided to do "we have x number of seats reserved in your honor." This will hopefully remind people we have a small venue you and you just cannot bring your whole family and then your friends to.....

For these I had to put 4 on a 8 1/2 by 11 and printed both sides. Saved it as a PDF to take it to the Kinkos.

Also a side note we bought all our stamps before they went up in price, the postcards stamps are not forever stamps, so you cannot buy those ahead of time.

Now for the envelopes. I purchased the craft paper Envelopes size A7 (for a 5 x 7 invite) at Hobby Lobby. They were $7 for 50 and I used my 40% coupon for both packs.

I then went into Photoshop with a 5x7 custom page, and inserted the wreath, and a text box that I could change. I would not recommend this if you have over 75-100 invites to send out. I then reformed the placement for where to print to the lower part of the page in the center ( which you see on the print screen). And printed each individual envelope on my printer.

I really wanted to keep with the vintage look and purchased the Seed packet stamps before they were retired in the Fall of last year.

The font I used is KG Eyes Wide Open, which I download from a site off of Pinterest.

For the back of the envelope we purchased a self-inking stamp. I just used this for the back of each invitation, it has a ball jar with the work love written in it, and then our first names so that we could use it after we get married, with our home address. 

We purchased this from Etsy, shop: Designkandy.

We loved it!

 We planned on doing our printing at home since it is all black and white, however realized it was challenging to get it to line up because of the double sided so we decided to have them printed professionally. You can do this through Fedex/Kinkos as long as you have it in PDF format and have 2 on a sheet, and it perfectly lined up. Which was tricky but worked out.

Please note, I just did this for my wedding, and am sharing that you can make wonderful wedding invitations that aren't expensive! I also spent A LOT of time on these, more than I would have liked, so if you are trying to do something quick, this probably isn't the project for you.

More to come on our fabulously vintage chic wedding!