Mantle Decor for the wedding

Our venue has a very pretty stone fireplace that we will be exchanging our vows in front of, so I thought I would figure out a way to decorate it a bit. 

I picked up the frames at Dollar Tree for $1 each (duh), the light lanterns are from Family Dollar (i think $1-$2 each) and the vases are salt and pepper shakers. I just covered them in some damask paper. I used flowers I had left over from my first failed centerpiece idea. 

I decided today while going through everything that I'm going to try to get things a little more organized. The wedding is taking over my closet! So, I found a few boot shoeboxes and have started those organizing efforts. 

Everything for the mantle is wrapped up nicely in newspaper and I stuck a label on the box. I'll be printing off a copy of the mantle decor picture to stick on the front, so if someone else sets it up for me, they will know how I want it to be done. 

My candy buffet box is getting there too! 

So far I have pink candy canes, caramel Hershey's kisses (pink wrappers!) and cherry jelly hearts. I plan to get at least 3 more kinds of candy. I need to get all my jars together and see what else I need there. I feel so accomplished this weekend!

DIY signs

I love photoshop. GI got it for me last year for my birthday and I have used the hell of it since then. Making my table numbers was so easy, so I decided to use it for a couple of other things. 


Here is my candy buffet sign:

I printed it off as an 8 x 10 and I'll be putting it in a frame at the candy buffet table. 

I also made this for a photo prop:

This is for a photo op. I want to have a picture taken of us holding the sign to put on Thank You cards after the wedding. I printed it off as an 8 x 10 also!

Cartoon Character Table Numbers

Anyone that knows GI and I well, they know we are just a couple of big kids. When I started telling my mom all of our wedding plans she said "You're planning a wedding for a couple of kids!" And I had to laugh, because she is very right. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out table numbers, there are so many great ideas out there, but I needed something that suited us well.


That's when I came up with the idea for cartoon characters! What better way to mark the tables than cartoon character couples from our childhood?


I found a damask background online and used photo shop to add pictures that I found by googling and the table numbers. I made 10 seperate ones. We should actually only need 7, but I've been planning for 10 just in case we have some additions to the guest list. I had these printed off as 4 x 6 photos at shutterfly.com and I will be putting them in picture frames on the tables.

Pink and White Tissue Pomanders

Pomanders are another project that I thought I wouldn't do, even though they are pretty popular in the wedding world. However, the more I thought about them, the more I loved them. 


I didn't do a tutorial, there are so many online that I've read and they pretty much have it covered, so I'll just give you the basics. For directions just google tissue paper pomanders!


I used:
Hot pink and white tissue paper- approx. 1 1/2 packages per pomander
8 medium sized styrofoam balls- My mom picked up squares at Dollar Tree for $1 each, so I just cut off the corners to round them out, they worked perfectly!
Beading wire- (the kind you use for jewelry making, my label is missing, so I can't give you a gage!)
Hot glue gun
paperclips


I cut the tissue paper into equal squares. I cut the stack in half and then cut each of the stacks in half. 


I used three tissue papers for each flower. I left them in a stack and squeezed it in the middle and wrapped the wire around the middle. I twisted the wire together and trimmed the wire down so an inch was sticking out. Fluff up the "flower"  and secured them into the styrofoam ball using hot glue. (dang, now I wish I had done a tutorial, I'm sorry if this is hard to picture!)


I covered the balls with flowers and left one corner uncovered. I hot glued a paperclip into the open corner, leaving half of it out so I can run fishing wire through there when I hang them.  You can kinda see it there. 

Here were the first five, I kept running out of tissue paper, silly me, I thought one package each would cover them, but NO. Definitely 1.5 packages per ball. They were very easy to make but super time consuming. I was spending at least hour on each one. It was a great project to do while catching up on Netflix!


They turned out great though and they are hanging beautifully from a hook in the ceiling of my bedroom until the big day. Make sure to keep them out of direct sunlight so the colors don't fade!

Dum-Dum Topiaries!

Well, I finished a few more things over the past couple of weeks! My first project was my Dum-Dum topiaries! They are for the candy buffet as table decorations. 


Here's what I used:
Pink and Blue card stock
a flower punch
styrofoam balls
styrofoam half balls
two flower pots
wooden dowels
a hole punch


On this I just punched out a punch of flowers with the paper, glued the pink on top of the blue so both colors were showing and then punched a hole through each center. I stuck the suckers through the holes and straight into the styrofoam balls covering the balls completely. When I was done I stuck a dowel into the bottom and used the styrofoam half balls as a base to stabilize the dowel. I put them in these cute flower pots I painted and ta-da! It was a pretty cheap project except for the flower punch... It was $15 at Hobby Lobby, definitely something to pick up when you have a 40% off coupon! 


I'm going to put chocolate candy rocks on top of the base when I put them out on the table at the wedding. :)

Marrying a soldier that's stationed overseas

Ok, when GI and I first started talking about getting married, I did what every girl does.. I started Googling. But, instead of dresses, cakes and flowers and I was trying to figure out how hard it was going to be to marry him while he is stationed in another country. 


What I found stressed me out. The only thing I could find is that it is complicated. I read that there is a ton of paperwork involved, I read that he would have to go speak to the Chaplain, and we would have to do counseling prior to getting married. I read that it can take months and months of preparation to get it done. When I relayed my research to G.I. he suggested that maybe we should wait until after he is stationed in the states. 


Well, that was kind of a let down, but I didn't want to make marrying me hell for him (you're supposed to save that for after, right? KIDDING!)


Anyway, he asked his buddies that are there with him and then checked with his superiors. Yeah, we and Google were way off. 


Nothing out of the ordinary had to be done. We went to a justice of the peace, signed the license, said our vows and TADA it was done!


There is a lot of paperwork involved, but as spouses, we have nothing to do with that. This is paperwork that he has to complete to enroll you in DEERS and to start your Tri-care, and there are people to help him with the mountain of papers.  


What my GI needed from me:
*Birth Certificate
*S.S. card
*Marriage License
*Current insurance information


If he can not enroll you in DEERS while he is in the states, make sure to get CERTIFIED copies of all of your identification to send with him. They must have the original or certified copies and you do not want to be stuck without your only copies while he has them, you'll need them to change your name! 


I honestly hoped this saves someone some stress. I know if I had been able to find it then things would have been less confusing!

Check!: Music Chosen!

Ok, I DID accomplish one thing this weekend. Sigh... it feels so good to mark another task off the list! Here's my wedding music list!

Prelude: 

(While the mothers are being seated and before the wedding party goes down the aisle.) 

Mama's Song- Carrie Underwood (country)

Processional: 

(Walking down the aisle!)

Lost In This Moment- Big and Rich (country)

Recessional:

(Back up the aisle)

I'm Yours- Jason Mraz 

(they call his genre "pop, but that's debatable)

First Dance:

Let Me Love You- Casey Donahew Band (Red Dirt Country)

Dad/Daughter Dance:

My Little Girl- Tim McGraw (country)

Stepdad/Daughter Dance:

Didn't Have To Be- Brad Paisley (country)

Mother/Son Dance: 

Simple Man- Lynyrd Skynyrd (rock) 

Cake Cutting Song:

You Make Me Smile- Uncle Kracker (country)

Bouquet Toss: 

Just A Girl- No Doubt (90's? punk?)

Garter Toss: 

One Hot Mama- Trace Adkins (country)

Last Dance:

Carrying Your Love With Me- George Strait (country)