Invite Reveal

It's been almost a week since we sent out our invitations, and since I'm already getting responses, I'll go ahead and give you a peek at them! Now if you remember anything about Mr. S and I, you will know that we work together for a company that designs and prints greeting cards. Needless to say, we had no problem designing and printing our invites.

Invitation - personal image

Response Card - personal image

Outer Envelope - personal image

I chose not to have Mr. S print them on the formal wedding stock they have in the print shop. I also chose not to have them printed in thermography, a printing process that raises the ink on the paper. I don't really have an explanation as to why I did not want to use these options, when they are so readily and easily available to me. The only thing I can think of, is that those types of printing make me think of traditional, formal weddings. And our style is nothing like that. So instead, I chose to print the invitation and response card on Stardream Crystal paper, by Gruppo Cordenons. Their Stardream line is one of my all-time favorites to use for so many things. The Crystal paper is an iridescent white stock, that can look anything from white to silver depending on the angle you view it from. Luckily for me, I have many contacts in the paper-buying world, and was able to get a pack from my favorite paper rep for free! Just one of the many many perks to being in this business :)

A close-up of the paper stock, with added contrast so you can see the iridescent effect - personal image

The envelope is just plain white. No liner, nothing fancy. I used the data-merge function in InDesign to lay out the names and addresses, which pulled the guests' information from my guest list spreadsheet. I also printed our return address on the back flap.

Finally, I chose the USPS's Vintage Seed Packet Forever Stamps. The USPS has some really nice "weddingy" options when it comes to stamps, but my love for gardening and flowers won over the traditional roses and hearts.

Vintage Seed Packet Forever Stamps - image courtesy USPS.com

Grand total spent on our wedding invitations: $46.00 for the stamps. Yes, that's it. I could have gone all out and done some really neat designs, pockets, layers, etc. But even with my connections we would have spent at least $200 or more on something like that. In my mind, it just wasn't necessary.

You may have noticed that our response card doesn't have an envelope. That is because I chose to do an online RSVP for our guests. After reading mixed reviews from other brides who have used this process, I decided to also give guests the option to call me directly to respond. Many of them already have our contact info anyway, so sending a quick text or making a call doesn't seem too out of the ordinary for most of them. I've already received back 24 "yes" and 6 "no" responses. So at this moment, we are at a 75% acceptance rate. I'll keep you posted on those numbers through the next few weeks.

Until next time, happy planning, and keep it frugal!

Miss Spaghetti

Alive and Kicking Some Wedding To-Do Butt

Hey there, just popping in to give you all an update on where I've been, and how we're doing now that we're only a mere 46 DAYS out from our wedding! Sorry I've been MIA. But I've actually accomplished a TON in my time away from blogging...

• Made some bout's - don't have any good pics, but basically took out some of the cute small flowers from my bouquets and made boutonnieres out of them
• Sent out some invites - that's right, it's official now, the invites are out! Stay tuned for a reveal of our simple yet pretty invitations
• Lost a bridesmaid, and in turn, a groomsman - yep, my Friendster H had to back out of her role as my bridesmaid. After moving to Texas a while back, she and her hubby are having a hard time getting the time off work, finding plane tickets they can afford, etc etc. I would never want to put a friend in a position have to go broke in order to be at my wedding. So we decided together that she wouldn't be in our bridal party. *Tear*. And as a result, Mr. S gave one of his groomsmen a choice to either walk by himself, or just to come as a guest. Since said groomsman is one of the most laid back dudes I've met, he was totally fine just coming as a guest to enjoy the festivities. Phew!
• Picked a hotel - after getting group rate quotes from multiple hotels near our venue, I decided on the closest one, which also happens to be the least costly. And in addition, their online booking rates are CHEAPER than their discounted group rates! WHA? So I've encouraged our guests via our wedding website to book online for the best pricing.

My bachelorette party, planned by MOH/Sister K, is this weekend! I still don't know what we are doing, but I've been told we have to leave at 8 am Saturday morning, and won't be back until Sunday. People, I have no idea what to expect. Mr. S keeps messing with me saying that MOH K told him where we're going and that he will never tell. Then he says he has no idea. I guess I'll find out when we get there!

My bridal shower is planned for Sunday May 5th. My lovely Cousin's J and L are hosting it for me, and I couldn't be more appreciative and excited! I'm trying not to be a registry stalker, but as soon as I saw things being taken off our list, I couldn't control myself! Please tell me I'm not the only one :)

Well that was a lot. I hope you aren't overwhelmed with all my accomplishments ;) I have a lot more to share in the coming days so stay tuned!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

I'm No Florist...But These Things Look Pretty Good!

MOH K and I took the day Saturday to do some much needed wedding planning. Here's what I had on my list:

• Flowers for bouquets/bouts/corsages/mason jar centerpieces
• Shoes for me
• Order sash for my dress
• Fabric for mason jar centerpieces
• Discuss timeline

While we didn't accomlish everything on that list, we did have quite a productive day, because...

We figured out the bouquets!

One of my finished, handcrafted bridesmaids bouquets! Personal image

We made a stop at Michael's to look at a few things, and found these cute little Ashland Spring Stem Bundles on sale for 50% off, regularly $9.99. They contained an assortment of about 7 different stems, in a variety of purple colors.

Ashland Spring Stems from Michael's - Personal image

We found 3 at that store, and had an employee call around to the other 2 stores in our area. Altogether, we were able to get our hands on 7 bunches. Unfortunately, this was a Spring item, which meant they couldn't order any more (of course). And we figured that we would need at least 11 to make all four bridesmaid bouquets plus my bridal bouquet.

Yesterday, I stopped in at a different location to pick up two that they had on hold for me. Mr. S and I went back to look at the floral section to see what other options we had to fill the bouquets. As I looked, he reached down and pulled out a small stem bundle, with many of the same purple flowers in it, plus some light green hydrangea stems, for only $7.99! Plus, the 50% off sale continues through this week. We grabbed 5 of them, thinking that should be enough to fill up all of the bouquets with. I also had a coupon good for 15% off your entire order, even sale items. Altogether, I spend only $50 on all 5 bouquets, plus ribbon to tie around the stems, and pins with little pearls on the end!

 I spent the afternoon on the couch separating these bad boys out, and experimenting with the arrangements. Here is what I started with:

All of the bunches together, plus the ribbon and pins I plan to wrap the stems with. Personal image

And here is how the four bridesmaid bouquets ended up looking:

Bouquets for my ladies! Personal image

 Side note: they look much better in person. I kept trying to send MOH K images on my phone, and it just doesn't do them justice.

I didn't think I was going to use any of the green hydrangea stems because I wasn't feeling the color. But I was able to use them as a filler for all of the bouquets. It turned out perfect!

Here are some other angles and closer up images (all images personal):

 The Little Noodle's comment when I pulled them out of the bag, was "Those look real!". As honest as 6-year old's are, I took that to mean they looked good :) Did you DIY your flowers? How did they turn out?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

I Don't Know Who "Mason" Is, But I Like His Jars

I'm really diggin' the "rustic" look that so many weddings have nowadays. Luckily for me, BM M got married a year and a half ago, and still has tons of leftover mason jars. All of us bridesmaids spent the entire morning of her wedding in a field picking wild flowers, then we brought them back and filled them with water, and arranged all of flowers in them for centerpieces. Tons of work, yes, but the end result was beautiful and the decor really suited her outdoor, backyard wedding. While BM M's wedding and mine have a lot in common (both rustic, outdoors-y locations), they are still quite different. So the big question in my mind has been "I have all these mason jars, now what do I do with them?".

Enter: Pinterest. I'm not going to dote on it and talk about how awesome it is because I honestly think it's played out (please don't hate me). That being said, I have utilized it a couple times, this time being one of them. I found these:

Stones with a candle (no shells for me) - Easy Wedding Centerpieces

Water with a floating candle and twine - Emmaline Bride

Jars with fabric wrap - 100 Layer Cake

I really liked the look of the candles and water, but the thought of having to fill all those jars (I'm thinking 2 per table of 8, at 20 tables) just exhausts me. Same with the stones. So my mind is almost completely set on doing the fabric wrap. MOH K told me she saw a pack of fabric squares, which I'm guessing would be considered quilting squares, at JoAnn Fabrics. It had different patterns, but all with the same purple color scheme. I like the idea of having a variety of patterns! I would also like to try wrapping it with twine instead of a ribbon.

Now, what to put in them? Depending on what flowers I choose for the bouquets and bout's, maybe I will put a few stems in each one. And how cute is this?!?

Lemon slices in water! Makes me want yellow as a secondary color! - Pinterest

Obviously there are a lot of cute and easy things you can do with mason jars. I think the hardest thing is trying to find and collect enough of them. I've got that part covered! Anyone else use mason jars in their decor?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Let The Music Play

In other words, we've found our DJ! We met with Mike from Studio 616 on Wednesday. I can't say enough about how helpful he was with figuring out what we really need for a DJ. Remember when I talked about their DJ & photo booth package? Turns out we didn't really even need or want the photo booth, and Mike worked with us to create a package that was in our budget, but also gave us enough time for the DJ to be there for the whole event, ceremony included!

Even Mr. S, who is pretty hard to win over, was ready to sign him right then and there. So to everyone who is looking for a DJ in the Grand Rapids area, check them out!

Now that we have the tunage figured out, my next task is the flowers. I'm still on the fence about whether I want to go with real or artificial, and whether I want to DIY or let a pro handle it. So basically all I know at this point, is that I want some pretty purple flowers ;)

I love love love the look of an all Dahlia bouquet, but sadly, they will not be in season for my June wedding.

So delicate and natural! Dahlias wrapped with lily grasses. Image courtesy of Flowers by Shirley blog

I've asked a couple local florists if they have any other suggestions that might be a similar look. My budget will definitely play a factor, since I don't want to spend more than $200. I actually don't want to spend more than $100, but considering everything I need, I've accepted that I have to plan for a bit more. I need:

• 1 bridal bouquet
• 4 bridesmaid bouquets
• 1 grooms boutonierre
• 4 groomsmens boutonierres
• 2 dads boutonierres
• 6 mother/grandmother corsages

If anyone can do all that for under $100, sign me up! I'm pretty confident I could do it myself if I find the right flowers. I've heard Costco has a good variety and pricing. And there are a few fresh flower markets around here that we might have to stop in and check out this weekend. Did anyone else DIY their flowers? Any tips or regrets?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Feelin' Oh So Crafty

MOH K's Bachelorette Party is this Saturday at my house. I'm pretty prepared (aka: still hustling to get my house in order after having our tub and bathroom sink snaked Sunday and having black crap spewed all over the door and walls and toilet and floor...but hey at least the drains work now!). My bathroom is not even technically a bathroom, it's a commode. It's a closet filled with toilet, sink and tub. Seriously, it's tiny. But I take pride in finding ways to make it seem organized and not a complete mess. There is a white shelf thing over the toilet (like a toilet armoire) that is just shelves, no doors to close. So everything on these shelves is visible ALL the time. It drives me nuts. I wanted to get some of those fabric drawers like the ones that go in the little cube cubby hole organizers. But they were too big. And also upwards of $10 each. Ya right! So I set out to find a way to make my own.

I started with some random boxes that were headed for the recycle bin. Then I printed some cute designs on paper to wrap them in. I really didn't have a true plan in mind as far as what size, or how the paper would actually look when I wrapped it. So I started folding and cutting and just seeing what I ended up with. To my surprise, the first one came out pretty darn good! I began wrapping the paper around it, secured it using some handy dandy Scotch tape, and threw it up on the shelf to admire my handy work. Other than the box being a tiny bit warped from being smashed in a bag, it looked mighty good! I took some random crap that was on the shelf and put it in my new "deco box" (that's the official name I came up with) and the shelf looked better instantly.

Having had such success on the first try, I set out to make one to hold the washcloths that up until now just sat awkwardly on the shelf. No, I don't even have a linen closet. Pathetic. Using a cereal box, I folded and cut and used the stack of washcloths for sizing. Once I had something to work with, I wrapped it in a different pattern printout. It was a little more rickety than my first one, but looked good nonetheless. I plopped that thang on the shelf, put my washcloths in it, and stood in amazement at myself for actually following through with a craft project, and being happy with the result. I made Mr. S immediately pause his Xbox game and get up and take a look. He was thoroughly impressed, of course.

Now the next one I actually took the time to take some pics while I was working. This one was designed to be a q-tip holder with a flip-top lid. Yes, I am that OCD that even the q-tip box doesn't belong on the shelf...so here's how it went down (all pics personal):

I started with a box that I cut down and reassembled to make it fit some q-tips (hint: use actual q-tips for measuring)

Next, I cut the top off a baggie and placed it inside the box. I thought this might be more sanitary since q-tips go in your ears. I used a glue-tape-dispenser that kind of looks like a whiteout pen to adhere the top of the baggie to the box.

Then I wrapped the box with the printed paper. I chose stripes for this little guy.

And here's a pic from the front with the baggie.

Next came the flip top lid. I cut a single piece of cardboard to fit the top, and then folded another little piece to make a hinge. Glued that puppy onto the inside of the box, and the underside of the lid.

Ta-da! My new q-tip holder deco box with the lid closed, and also finished with q-tips inside it.

The moral of the story is, sometimes you just have to try something to really know if it's going to work or not. I honestly did not think I'd make it happen, just because I often have these little craft projects that end up being half done and stuck in a box in the basement. But it was worth a shot, and it ended up working out just fine!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Party Planning

I have to be honest here guys, December is sucking the life out of me. I swear. It's just one thing after another, every task taking a little piece of my sanity along with it. Don't get me wrong, life is good, I'm happy, no worries there. It's just that everything that needs to be done happens at once and I have to split into 15 me's to get it all done. Work is the main culprit, being followed closely by my "can't-say-no-to-anyone" projects for friends and family. And Christmas, ugh, don't get me started. Just over a week from Christmas and I'm not even halfway through my shopping list. I tried desperately to get all my bridesmaids together to look at dresses before BM H moves to Texas (next weekend) but it's just not going to work. And I've spent so much time trying to do MOH K's wedding stationery and BM S's photo thank you note cards and my own save-the-dates that I've completely slacked off on planning MOH K's Bachelorette party, which is in a month! Scold me, go ahead, I deserve it. But honestly I have the whole thing planned in my head and in a spreadsheet (lol) and all I have to do is finalize where we are having it. Yeah, that's the most important part. I'm working on it!

Since I'm trying to get that little shindig planned, I thought I'd share some of the things I'm going to try to do. I am only divulging this little bit of info because I know my sis doesn't read this blog. The plan is to have the all the bridesmaids and the bride-to-be meet first at my place to have snacks and wine and girlie time. Then we will go to the restaurant/bar (tbd) and have the rest of the guests meet there for dinner, dessert, more drinks, gifts, and dancing of course. I've got some cute ideas for games, party favors, and lots more.

The Theme: Classy and Fabulous

The Food:
My sis LOVES spinach artichoke dip. I found a relatively easy and delicious looking recipe over at Annie's Eats that I plan on attempting. If that doesn't work I'll go buy a batch of TGIFriday's frozen version :)

The Drinks:
Wine, hello! But not just any wine, my sister's fave Ed Hardy Sangria.

Ed Hardy Sangria

The Favors:
Glittered wine glasses for each girl in the bridal party.

Glittered Wine Glasses

And for the main event, we will have a game in which each guest brings a gift of a pair of panties. The bride then has to guess who brought what panties as she opens them. This was her idea, and I think with 16 people on the guest list she will have her work cut out for her!

I also plan on having a few little "giveaways" which will consist of sets of cocktailing accessories that we make at my work...

A small sampling of our products. From top left: can hugger, coaster, beverage napkin,
bottle tote, bottle attire, and another bottle tote - personal image

I'm working on the invites now, and I will share with you once they are sent out and we have some responses. But one thing I've incorporated into it is a QR code that links to a website I set up that gives guests information about the party. They can RSVP there, get maps to the event, and much more.  Unnecessary? Maybe for some, but to me the thought of getting an invitation with a QR code on it, scanning it with my phone, and RSVP'ing right on the website is pretty cool and simple! What do you think?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

I'm Etching, Baby!

So you remember my post a while back on how I wanted to etch my own glassware for Mr. S and I to use at the wedding? Well...I finally got a minute to try it out last night, in between baking my very first batches of cake pops:

MMMMMMM! I've gotten rave reviews at our work food day today - Personal Image

More on that process in a later post. Right now I'm getting down to my first experience in glass etching. I started with the following items:

• Armour Etch Cream - $8.99 at Hobby Lobby + 40% off coupon = $5.39
• Foam Brush - around $.50 at Michael's (I bought 2 just in case)
• Contact Paper - $1 at Dollar Tree
• Xacto Knife - already had one
• A printout of what I wanted on the glass
• Gloves to protect your hands (that shiz will burn!) - Handsome FI got from work for me:)
• Glass product of your choosing

Here is what my printout looked like:

Personal Image & Design

A quick tip: I originally tried to use our monogram but the fact that there were too many loops and cut-outs made it impossible to do correctly. I created the above design and cut out the black areas instead. This allowed the uncut parts to still be connected and not just fall right off.

I laid my printout on top of a small piece of the contact paper. Using my Xacto, I cut out the black areas. When I try this again, I will print my design on thicker cardstock and cut that out, then trace the design onto the contact paper and cut it separately. I had a lot of jaggies when I cut through the printout and the contact paper.

Once I had everything trimmed out, I peeled off the backing of the contact paper, and stuck it to my wine glass. Other than it being a bit bigger than I thought, it worked pretty well. A little tough to line up though!

I think it's straight?! - Personal Image

Next, I put on my gloves and started glooping on the etching cream with the foam brush. I had read online that you really need to coat it on there good for best results. So I did.

Gloopin' it on - Personal Image

Once I had it pretty well glooped on there, I let it sit for a few. Then I noticed that it had started to drip toward the edge of the contact paper on the sides. I couldn't have that! So I started brushing it off a bit. After a few minutes of that, I decided I might as well just take it off and see how it turned out. Since I couldn't remember how long to leave it on, and the bottle had no good instructions on it, I wiped off the cream with the foam brush and put it right back in the bottle ($5.39 for 3 ounces?? you better believe I'm saving that stuff!).

Then I slowly started lifting off the contact paper. I immediately ran water over it in the sink and started wiping the excess off with a paper towel. This seemed to work pretty well. I dried my glass, and stood back to look at my masterpiece.

Ta-da! Not too shabby! - Personal Pic

Close up, you can see the jaggies from my not-so-good cutting - Personal Image

All in all, I think the first go round was pretty successful. The etching looks pretty good even leaving it on for a total of only 5 minutes or so. I'm glad I have plenty of wine glasses to practice on! For a total investment of under $8, I will (after some perfecting) have some lovely glasses for us to drink out of on our wedding day!

Did you have any DIY projects you were successful with on the first try?

Happy planning!

Miss Spaghetti

So Inviting

As you may or may not know, I am a graphic designer. My handsome fiance Mr. S is a printing pressman. Therefore, I feel a lot of pressure to create some amazing stationery for our wedding. The good thing is that I enjoy designing so much, that I don't mind spending a lot of time on our paper goods. The other good thing (and there really are many others) is that I have an entire print shop at my disposal, meaning a nice discount :)

The tough part for me, is spending a lot of money on something that people other than my parents and myself will just throw away after they put the date and time in their calendar. So my goal is to use typography and color to design some unique wedding stationery, without spending more than...drum roll please...$150!

How will I manage this? Partly with the help of the above mentioned discounts, and partly by cutting out things that we really don't need. Accommodations, directions, reception info, all things that will be on our wedding website. Response cards? I'm still debating this with myself, because I would love to have online RSVP. I have read mixed reviews on this, but overall I feel that the amount of money and time spent trying to get people to respond with a little card isn't really worth it, when you still end up having to track down a quarter of your guest list anyway since it's too much trouble for them to drop the pre-addressed and stamped envelope in the mail. Plus, Wedding Wire offers a free online RSVP option through their wedding websites, and I would really like to utilize that!

Now onto the design details. I LOVE scripty fonts. One of my favorites is Burgues Script (drool!). The one thing I designed early on is our monogram:

Personal Image and Design

And I'll use that font with my fave serif font, Filosofia, on all of our stationery. For our save the date postcards, I'll tease you with the engagement pic that I want to use. But I'll save the design reveal until after they are sent out...

Katy Batdorff Photography

How much do you plan to spend on your wedding stationery? Did anyone use online RSVP? If so, how did it work for you?

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Bottom's Up!

Now that we've semi-decided on a caterer for our food, the subject of beverages has reared itself. Just to recap, our venue is a county park, and allows us to bring in whatever food/beverages/alcohol we like, with the exception of liquor (which we didn't plan on having anyway). The caterer we are (probably) using offers non-alcoholic beverage service at $.50 per person for each type of beverage we choose. That would include tea, lemonade, water (bottles), or fruit punch. They also offer cans of pop for $1.25 per person.

After talking with Mom S, Step-Mom S, and Mr. S this weekend, I've come up with some ideas for the whole beverage situation, so I'm going to get mathema-technical on you for a few and share my research. I've decided that providing water and a selection of pop for our guests would be sufficient since we're also having beer and wine (I'll leave that discussion for another post...)

If we do beverages ourselves...

We can provide pop in cans for much less than the caterer. A good deal on a 12-pack of pop in this area is about $3.70 including deposit of $.10 per can. If we were to provide a variety of pop, and figure about 2 cans per guest (at 150 guests), we would need 25 12-packs, totaling $92.50 with deposit. That equals out to $.62 per person.

I figured we could do without the tea, lemonade, punch, etc. But I do want to provide water for non-pop drinkers. If we went with bottled water, which I'm pretty against due to the negative impact it has on the environment, we would need 300 bottles, or 13 24-packs. I can find those on sale for about $2.50. Since there's no deposit on these, we would be paying $32.50 for water.

The other option I came up with for water would be to simply use tap water, and buy pitchers from the dollar store to put on the tables. But I will have 18 guest tables with 8 guests per table, and would probably want at least 2 pitchers per table. That would mean 36 pitchers, and $38.16 with tax for just the pitchers. I can make my own ice, and water is free, but it still looks like it would be cheaper to go with the darn bottles! Plus, someone would have to be watching the pitchers like a hawk in case they need to be refilled. Who wants to do that?!

So our grande totale for DIY beverages: $125

While some might think having pop cans and bottles of water might qualify as "tacky", I personally could care less if I were a guest at a wedding that had them. It's at a park, nothing fancy, and I really care more about people having fun and enjoying the day than worrying about what they will think of our beverage selection :)

If we have our caterer provide beverages... 

We could go with the same selections as in the above scenarios (pop and water). The water would be $.50 per person, totaling $75. The pop would be $1.25 per person, totaling $187.50.

Grande totale for catered bev's: $262.50

So what do you think, pay more for someone else to have the headache of providing all these drinks, or save the $137 and do it ourselves? Am I overestimating, underestimating, perf-estimating (perfect estimating)? Anyone out there have an experience to share? Am I just plain bat sh*t crazy? ;)

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Getting Corn-y

Well it's finally time for Bridesmaid/Cousin S to get married! This coming Saturday is the big day, and needless to say I've been a bit absent from the blogging world as I have been helping her with lots of wedding projects! Last Saturday night was spent at S's house with she and Maid of Honor/Sister K (we are both bridesmaids) putting delicious freshly-made caramel corn by my good friend over at Marckini Concessions into favor bags. YUM! Such a great idea by S to have this for her wedding favors! In the midst of all the bag-filling and sampling, I didn't even snap a picture. But I will be taking lots of pics at her wedding this weekend, so I'll be sure to upload some.

So how did we do it? S bought plastic favor bags from Oriental Trading:

Image courtesy of Oriental Trading

We started with 6 plastic tubs full of caramel corn, and ended up with 170 bags. We tied the bags with ribbon:

Image courtesy of Oriental Trading (hers were cream colored, not black)

And slapped (carefully placed) a label on the front:

Personal design and image

Ta-da! A tasty and unique wedding favor. My other BIG project for S's wedding is all of her stationery. I designed and printed almost all of her paper goods for the day:

Invitation-Personal Image

Response Card-Personal Image

Advice Card-Personal Image

Place Cards for the head table-Personal Image

Ceremony Programs (Front and back)-Personal Image

16x20 Seating Chart, mounted on foam core and to be displayed on an easel-Personal Image

Table Number Cards-Personal Image

Phew! I'm done with everything except the seating chart, which needs to be printed and mounted at Office Depot since I can't print that big at work, and the programs. For the invitations, I used Cordenons Stardream Opal 105# cover weight paper for the backer, and S picked out some ribbon at Hobby Lobby that she liked. I used an image of the ribbon on some of the pieces to tie it together.

Anyone else have any big projects lately that are unrelated to their own wedding? Between S's wedding this weekend, and K's wedding in early February, I don't know how I'm going to get anything done for mine in June!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Vistaprint Label Deal

One thing I love is a good deal on paper products! If you need address labels, check out this deal at Visaprint...

Go here to select your label. Personalize it and add to your cart. Do not add any other items to your order! When you get to the shipping page, you should be able to select Priority Shipping for $3.50.

Your order total should be $3.50 for 140 address labels! I can think of so many things a bride can do with labels...

Thank You Labels - Courtesy of Etsy

Bottle Labels - Courtesy of My Own Labels

Favor Bag Labels - Courtesy of My Own Labels

Favor Box Labels - Courtesy of Magnet Street

Not to mention your return address labels! The best part is you can download a template, design your own, and upload it for print, and it is still only $3.50. I tried some myself to test it, because sometimes when you upload your own design it adds a fee to it. But not for this one :) So you can use your own monogram, icon, whatever you want!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti

Dessert Anyone?

Oh yeah, that's right, we're talking desserts. My biggest weakness. But when it comes to our wedding, I'm willing to put aside all thoughts of fat content and sugar highs, because we're making it all about what we LOVE. And that, good people, is dessert.

Neither Mr. S or myself are big cake fans. But our dream of an elaborate ice cream buffet with all the toppings was quickly put to rest when we were quoted in the range of $600 by a few places (ouch!). And that isn't really a DIY project I want to take on or handle on my wedding day (can we say, meltdown? hehe). So I've opted for a common middle-ground, a little something called the Dessert Buffet. I guess it's a rather popular thing these days, which was news to me. I've been scouring the 'net for ideas, and I've seen some super cute and simple ideas for them.

First, let's talk content. I've narrowed it down to a few simple snacks that I can probably make or buy myself. The first one is the increasingly popular "cake pop". My mom bought me this handy-dandy cake pop pan a while ago:

Nordicware Cake Pop Pans via Baking Bites

Now I have yet to actually use it, so the decision will be pending on my ability to figure it out and create something edible. Stay tuned for that!

The other items I hope to have are more traditional desserts, such as brownies, cookies, and maybe a few cupcakes. Using my mom's Cricut, I can cut out beautiful cupcake wraps in any kind of paper. Side note: this is a pretty big undertaking since it takes me about 10 minutes to do one wrap. Anyone who's used one of these machines can probably relate...or maybe it's just me...

Now, onto the decor. MOH K (my fashionista sista) has become a pro at making tissue paper poms. I really like the look of them in this pic:

via Sweet Designs blog

I love the different purples (my color), and the ways they incorporated the poms. I can have a few hanging, a few on vases, and even just sitting on the table throughout the desserts.

Or perhaps purple pinwheels as a backdrop:

via Live Smile Celebrate blog

I'm finding lots of pretty purple inspiration on the interwebs, so I don't think I'll have trouble deciding on some cute deco's for our sweet dessert table!  And trust me, I have been thinking about the painstaking task of making all these delicious treats. I have yet to really investigate whether this will be cheaper than buying pre-made, or paying someone else to do it all together. But one thing is for sure, I will let you know exactly what I find out! (Funny side note, when I typed "pre-made" it must not have been a word, because my auto correct wanted to change it to "pee-made"! As if that is a word, let alone a word I would use when talking about making food. Who comes up with these?)

Anyone else planning a dessert buffet? Are you making it yourself? Let's hear some of the treats you are having!

Happy planning!
Miss Spaghetti