I have to send a shout out about one of my favorite bloggers: Laurie Cinotto. She is so creative and her ideas are definitely budget friendly without looking too "cheap".
I am planning on starting to craft some of her items within the next month for my wedding. I'll have to make a trip to the craft store and get supplies (anyone have any coupons for michaels or joanns?), once I make some I'll definitely be posting some pictures. Agh so excited!
(You can find details and instructions for a lot of her crafts at Oncewed as well)

Okay I just had to share this!

I saw this cake topped by an etsy seller (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38560213) and I FELL IN LOVE with them. And since I decided to include birds as a theme in our wedding. Well, the price for these lovebirds is a little out of budget...so I implored my dear grandmother, who is creative to the T, to try to make them for me...and she did! They are so precious, I love them. And they mean so much to me because they were specially and lovingly made by my dear grandma. And I know that they are unique, and there is none like them.

My fiance and I are envisioning a more "party" style reception, than a formal affair (mostly because of finances, but partly because we're both laid-back casual, fun-loving people). So we've been entertaining the idea of a cake & dessert reception rather than a full on meal.
Ceremony around 1, reception around 2. Cake, dessert and dancing for about 3-4 hours (until people get hungry for dinner and leave lol!!). And maybe a separate restaurant reception for the wedding party (though that is up in the air, have to figure out pricing and all that)...
This is our inspiration:

Or something similar.
Today I went thrift store shopping (budget/DIY bride's best friend!) and found the start to some amazing items for our dessert buffet:

It's only 3 items...but you want to know what I paid for it? $2.00 for all three items. The two smaller ones were .50 cents each and the other was 50% off making it a whole whopping dollar! hehe.
I honestly, no joke, walked into the store telling myself I would only buy something if it was 50% off... yeah, my thrift stores have clearance.. :):):)

I also got the start to my lace tablecloth vision:


I bought two lace tableclothes, and two lace doilies. All four items? $5.50.
(three were also 50%).

Yeah... I'm soo excited right now :)
I also got a ton of fabric pieces to start making my adorable little birds!

so excited... <3

http://www.amybutlerdesign.com/products/free_patterns.php

She has the most adorable patterns, I simply adore them.
Now, I don't know how to quilt - my grandmother taught me when I was 12 and I have since forgotten, but that is a goal of mine for 2010: take a quilting class...maybe with my mom? She is big on crafting, sewing - I love that about her. And I want to be more like that for sure.
When my grandmother taught me to sew, she also gifted to me her sewing machine, sadly it's been out of use the last couple years, though I used to use it more as a teenager.



As soon as my mister gets settled into his apartment (he'll be moving here in March, and I'll move in right after the wedding), I hope to start making things like this for our home. (I would start now, only I have no place for any additional things, I'm currently sharing a room with my 5 yr old sister, and it's small as it is)

I love the "love" wall art. It is simply splendid.

Okay, I simply had to share this because it is way too cute.

This is my craft for the week (I normally don't have a craft of the week, but maybe I should haha), and as soon as I make a few, I will be posting pictures.


I found an online pattern for how to make these, and from the looks of it, it's super easy!
(you can find the pattern here)

Oh and I'm also considering making it a wedding favor, but I'm going to look into the cost and time first:



My mom and I have so much fabric laying around the house, and I think these would be cute both individually and as a mobile...and I will definitely be displaying these in my house once my fiance and I get married.

Speaking of house decorations.. found something else I love that I am looking into getting for our home:


This is one of my favorite, but you can check out the sellers additional wall vinyls HERE. They do custom orders as well (I have never personally ordered from them however), and I think it would be so neat to somehow get a silhouette of my fiance and I, standing together hand in hand, or embracing or something similar.
Maybe a silhouette of this picture:

(one of my favorite engagement pictures!! Photo Credits: Brittany Sherland)

I love any DIY or fun home decor projects and ideas, feel free to share your favorites!

Oooh I'm so excited I just had to share. Since yesterday I've been in communication with an Etsy seller who makes monogrammed/personalized Unity candles. I sent her some questions concerning a custom order and she is making me some amazing candles, a unity candle, two tapers and also a memorial candle (for my grandmother), and an amazing price: $28. I am soo excited!
I will definitely be posting pictures once I get them. (Can't order them until I had a definite date in place haha)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/wreathartist

So, we never sent out Save-The-Dates because we ourselves didn't save the date...haha. We ended up changing our date... (counts)..1,2,3,4 times. And still we don't have a definite date! We're varying between two - it depends mostly on what happens with our venue.
Anyway, so our save the dates has been more word-of-mouth. Even though we don't know it yet, but most everyone knows it's either the Saturday or Sunday of that one weekend (no more changing the weekend!)
But - I stumbled upon these adorable and unique save the dates, that makes me want to send them out for fun anyway.
http://www.paperlesspost.com/session/new
Now normally, I would completely disregard anything related to electronic invitations, I prefer snail-mail, I find it charming and a lost art. But I love these, and I would definitely consider doing these as save-the-dates, even though our wedding is only four months away now. They are so cute...and an amazing price! I haven't done it, but I heard it's 60 invites for $5. Yay!!