save the dates...

...Well they went out and they were a huge hit! 100% DIY (do it yourself) Here are the pictures of how we made them...

...first we printed about 50 save the date cards (std's) on kraft brown paper, and cut up a bunch of different fun papers that I already had and glued them onto the back of the kraft paper invites. Pictured here is on the left- backs of the std's and on the right is the fronts of the std's...

...We loved the idea of matt "entering" into my life/photostrip and together we are much happier than apart. its a fun idea we had only seen once and wanted to duplicate it. Of course we don't have a photobooth, nor could we afford to go to one. So Matt and I took a bunch of photos with a curtain background and a tripod in our house and crafted a photostrip on a photo editing program on my mac. We then cut and pasted that one photostrip over and over, and turned it into an 8x10 print to duplicate at the ever so wonderful and cheap...Costco. We printed about 8- 8x10s of "my" photostrip...then 8- 8x10s of "matt's" photostrip....

...so we cut up the photostrips, glued them onto the cute paper std fronts, and added some fun vintage photo corners...

 

...then voila! Done! Pictured on the left is the back of one std, and on the right is the front of another std card. We also addressed the green envelopes through the computer/printer in the same font that we thought really felt like our wedding (which was hard to choose out of 1,000 fonts let me tell you!) Chardin Doihle- from dafont.com if you are interested. I know its nicer to hand address envelopes, but I think it would have looked a bit more tacky had I done it myself. We chose the celebrate stamps, because not only are they cute but we are celebrating... we are truly getting married!! And we can't wait!!...

the ceremony...

Matt and I would like to do some fun renovations to the corral that we plan to get married in... here is what the aisle could look like with buckets of flowers...

Ceremony seating of hay bales covered in quilts...

lighting for the wedding...

Target is amazing...probably one of my favorite stores. And tonight, the experience was even better. We found our dream whimsical string lights for the wedding. We had been struggling with the choices of LED, fairy lights, christmas lights.... but these lights that we chose are truly awesome. They are cute and look like little fireflies buzzing about. We want lots of strands of lights over the dining tables, close to the pond, over the dance floor... to make the reception feel magical and romantic. My brother, the electrician, will be in charge of setting up the lighting so that its beautiful and also so we don't start a fire. We will also have tea lights in mason jars in the trees and floating candles in the pond. But these lights are priced pretty well, but hard to find. (some targets do not carry these string lights, for they are target brand) So if you are in search of adorable lights, check out Target at christmas time, but don't raid the Eagle, ID Target please...those are all mine!




So that the lighting looks romantic like this....

matt's ring...

We received matt's ring in the mail today. BEAUTIFUL!!! It is from the same artist/jewelrysmith who made mine... Justine. It fits matt perfectly, it looks man-ly and rugged, and he keeps on asking if he can wear it just around the house. I think thats a good sign, even though the answer is still of course no!

bridesmaids cards

Here are my bridesmaids cards that I sent out to my 4 four bridesmaids (best friends) and 1 maid of honor (sister). I saw the idea on once wed, and decided to tackle it. Remember paper doll chains in 2nd grade?! Yeah, its even harder than I remembered. Did I ever sand each little arm and leg back then? I think not.... but for some reason I found it important this time around. Let me tell you.... this was a HUGE project. Not only did I spend a whole week on it and question even completing it more than once... I then took it to the post office and it was $1.22 to send each card! Just fine for 5 cards....but it made me wonder about wedding invites. What if I spend all my time and put lots of love into each and every wedding invite and the postage is so outrageous that I might as well have chosen to do letterpress invites?! Huge questions I will have to answer later...
So I chose to put each girl's information on the back of their paper doll, and then the wedding info also. That way even though everyone knows each other...they have each other's email and phone number for quick easy access for any plans that need to be made. Each girl also has their own green dress and flower in their hair, which is how I picture them at my wedding. They have the freedom to choose any shade/style of green summer dress that they'd like and I will be giving them a cute little white flower for their hair. Nice and simple. The part about this diy project that I loved the best was getting the phone calls after my friends/sister received them. They were so excited for the wedding, and loved that it really felt like me asking them to be in my very special and unique wedding and how much it clearly meant to me that they were there. It was fantastic. And I would do it again in a second. However....for 50 wedding invites...we shall see what we come up with...

they are off!

And the save the dates are on their way !!! Phew....that was a lot of work...and fun. We can't wait to start the invitations. After everyone receives their cards, I will post them on the blog...and just how we pulled it off, 100% DIY style :)

antique-ware for our wedding

These pieces will be playing a big role in our wedding. Matt and I spent many hours rummaging through antique stores ( one of our pastimes we enjoy) and found these beauties. The bread box we use for our digital stuff/cords etc for now...but we will be using it for our card box at the wedding for wedding wishes/guest book of sorts. And the enamel ware will be used as our serving dishes. We love the look of it...rustic. :) A theme of our wedding...

our wedding location and date

So the date for the wedding is... June 12th 2010!! And we will be getting married in Garden Valley, ID. Very few people have heard of this quaint little town and we love it. Its gorgeous. Our family and friends will be able to stay on the property...camping, RVS, and our parents/siblings will be staying in the main house/lodge.

diy photostrip

something fun.... we created a photostrip here in our very own home...with a camera, a tripod, and a computer...this will be useful coming up in our wedding planning, but its a surprise!

sneak peek...

So here is a sneak peak at our chosen fabric themes for the wedding. Of course its Amy Butler... And I love it.

he popped the question!

So we are engaged! Best day ever, super romantic, and fantastic. Let the "real" wedding planning begin!

wedding dress fabric....

I found my dress fabric.... its cotton swiss dot! A little something like this dress picture....Matt's mom will be sewing my dress, and she found the fabric in Denver, its just beautiful! The little dots should give a beautiful subtle texture to the dress and the cotton will be so airy and summery...the dress pattern is a beautiful, simple, empire-waist, floor length summer dress...it just all feels so right...its the one! :) I have tried on the mock-up dress to see if I liked the pattern and how it fit...it was absolutely gorgeous, Matt's mom did a great job!!! I believe in April I will have the final dress fitting...yay!!

backyard inspiration....

Croquet...YES. Matt and I will be attempting to make our own, thanks to Tracy's Gopher Downs Game.

wedding accessories....

I love both of these looks.... it will be cold enough at night to wear a bolero right?!

Rings Part 2....

Some new ring ideas.... Aren't they pretty all together? Recycled silver, very organic, fun texture...they may even look nice with my tappered fingers. Maybe thats pushing it?

the colors and house inspiration...

Here are some of our favorite things in our house that show the colors we are planning our wedding around. There is also a picture of our IKEA plates we bought, and the paint swatches we picked out.

green - yellow - white - brown