Precious Metal: Copper wedding ideas

Goodbye gold and silver...hello copper! I can dream, right? Silver and gold will actually always remain top wedding colors but, if you want to try something a little different, this rich color may be just what you are looking for! 

Etsy Seller: PatsDesign

Choosing a wedding color completely sets up the theme of your wedding and once you have the color everything starts falling into place!  Copper can be either natural and rustic or elegant and dramatic. 

Dress: Bonny Bridal Social Occasion Wear Dress 7139 shown in Praline, Decorative Cupcake Holder, Guest Book, and Lantern

DIY Bride: Make your own bubble favors

I came across this tutorial on how to make your own bubble tin favors and wanted to share - how adorable are these? Originally, this was blog post showed up on Hostess with the Mostess for a 2nd birthday party - but I thought it would be great for a wedding too (and easy!). Have fun with this!

BUBBLE TIN PARTY FAVORS

Materials
• 6” Tin Cans, found at Specialty Bottle
• Pink Pipe Cleaners, found at Michaels
• Bubble Solution, found at iParty or you can make your own bubble solution
• Raffia, found at Michaels
• Full Sheet Label Paper, found at Office Depot
• Computer / Color Printer
• Paper Cutter

Instructions:
1. Download and print out the template for the bubble labels and trim just under and above the pink lines (so that the lines show) and horizontally at the end of the pink lines.

2. Adhere to the tins using as light of a touch as possible so you don’t leave fingerprints.

3. To create the pipe cleaner wands, shape the top of the wand into a circle, then twist the end around the handle.

4. Measure your raffia to about 18.” Holding the pipe cleaner in place, wrap the raffia around the wand and the tin, tying in a bow at the front.

5. Fill the tins about 1/2 full with the bubble solution 

Carnival Theme: Wedding or Party - Part 2

Doing a carnival dessert station was so much fun! I love creating and designing themed parties! In part 1 of the carnival party I talked about how I was able to get a dessert table for 50 people for just a little less than $2.00 a person! In this post we will tackle how to do the paper goods! Although this post is geared towards a carnival theme, you can incorporate some of the printables into other themes!


Stickers on the cotton candy bag: Adorable right? And...super easy! I had a package of Avery 8293 Shipping Labels at home - you get 400 of them in a package and these are GREAT for making your own labels for a variety of wedding items! I recently saw them priced at Amazon for $15.58 (free shipping and no tax!) makes them about .04 cents a piece! Here is a tutorial I put together on how to print the perfect label size every time that you will LOVE! 


If you are familiar with MS Publisher you can head off now to go and create stickers, after you download the red and white striped background here but, if you are not familiar with using Publisher and want to know how to create the stickers, keep reading!


Open your saved sticker in Publisher. You will need to use the oval tool to create the white space:

Now, you need to fill in your circle to make sure it's white:

Once you have done this you will want to open the red and white stripe paper using Adobe Reader and then hit Edit, Copy File to Clipboard. Go back to Publisher and hit CTRL M to get to the background mode. Hit CTRL V to paste your red and white stripe background on the file. This background will fill up your whole screen! Hit CTRL M to toggle back to your circle.


Use the text tool to write in your personal message:

Make sure you SAVE your document! And then you can print them off! You can use the Print Preview button to see how your finished document will look:

Pretty easy, right?! I just love these stickers and with a little work on your part you really will use all 400 stickers! If you didn't want to use the stripe background, but instead a solid color background, you can easily do this in Publisher using the Fill tool. If you need help with that you can leave a message on this post and I would be happy to help you!


I also came across this gorgeous collection for a carnival wedding or shower from Wedding Style Guide!

You can get all these goodies in PDF format! Click on any of the links to download the documents! Name tags, Invitations, Drink Tickets and Party Games!

Carnival Theme: Wedding or Party - Part 1

There is so much information I have to share with you about how to create a DIY carnival theme for your wedding or party so I am going to break it down in to two posts! My daughter's school was having an "end of the year" carnival to celebrate the last day of school so, I happily volunteered to do a dessert station for 50 kids! I have been wanting to do a post on a carnival theme because it is FUN! So, off on a search I went for the perfect carnival items! Now, I get to share my finds with you! First, I knew we needed the main staples for a carnival: cotton candy, peanuts and popcorn! 


I did some research to find the best prices on the bags to hold all the goodies and I ended up purchasing from Etsy seller HeyYoYo. I purchased:

50 Elephant Design Peanut Bags - $6.00

50 Retro Wagon Popcorn Bags - $7.00

Amanda, the owner of HeyYoYo shipped the items quick and they were exactly what I had hoped they would be! For the filler, I bought the large dry roasted peanut bags from Costco (I purchased 2 5lbs bags which filled my 50 bags with some leftovers!). We have a store similar to Costco here in Southern California called Smart and Final - it's similar to Costco but doesn't require a membership. From Smart and Final I bought the GIANT bags of premade popcorn. I purchased 2 3lbs bags - but, really one bag would have been enough!  

A must have for any carnival is cotton candy! I looked into renting a machine - but, honestly it's a lot of work! I have seen the Parade brand of cotton candy and figured I would make my own little bags using this cotton candy (with a personalized sticker on the outside). The only problem with it - it's MESSY! I bought 3 cases, figuring I could split it into the bags. Well, if you think about eating cotton candy and all that ooey gooey goodness gets all over your fingers - guess what? It happens when you are just touching it and NOT eating it - but, since it ended up all over my fingers I did taste it! Both flavors were really good! Sam's Club sells the 8 pack case of 2oz jars for $5.58! That is only .70 cents a tub! A total bargain! If I was going to do this again and planned ahead I would reconsider and probably order the prepacked 1oz bags which I found later at Standard Concession Supply. 100 - 1oz bags for 48.00 making them .48 cents a  bag (before shipping). Considering the mess, this is a much better way to go, in my opinion! 

Candy, candy, candy! Another must have for any dessert table! I was hoping to get the traditional whirly lollipops but, I just couldn't find a great price on them! So, I stuck with a revised plan of candy sticks and pixy stix's from Old Time Candy Company. I love this website - they have the best variety of different candies and the prices are really good! 

I bought the case of candy sticks - you get 80 sticks for $12.99 and then I added the pixy sticks (a case of 48 3-packs) for $7.99. I later found a large assortment of the same candy at Smart and Final! The prices were pretty much the same (when you factored in shipping) so, my advice is always check with your warehouse store to see what they might have! I also bought some of the orange colored circus peanuts! A 1.5 lb bag (about 90 pieces) was $5.99. The candy was my final purchase - and I almost broke down and added the whirly pops when I saw them at Smart and Final - the price still wasn't great but, the cute factor was over the top. The decision maker, though, was that they only had 1 pack - and I would have needed at least 3!

While, doing my research for this dessert table, I was surprised to find so many places that offered everything you need to make your own carnival! You really can use this theme and make it affordable! The total spent for all the goodies in this post: $98.32 - and that was for 50 people! So, the cost per person was about $1.97!

In the next blog post, I will talk more about how to make affordable DIY items, including tutorials and free printables for your carnival theme!

Free Printables: With love

I found a couple of free printables - in my favorite wedding color (pink!) and I had to pass along! These are easy items to incorporate into wedding decorations:


This heart of love is from The Fickle Pickle and you can click here to download it - for free!

This print is a very popular saying, with a little adaptation - and I love this one done in pink with a heart! This one is from The Hands-On Housewife and you can download it for free here!

Anchors Aweigh - Nautical Theme Wedding Ideas

If you are planning a wedding on a boat - and what a perfect summer venue that would be! This post is for you! A friend of mine always tells us to "come out on his boat" and hopefully, this summer, we will be able to finally do that!! Also, living near the beach, I have known quite a few brides who planned weddings on yachts. One of the things you really have to be aware of - spaces (walkways) are small on boats! You do not want a big, train dragging around everywhere! So, I chose this gown - style 5918 from Bonny Bridal. It's an informal gown (meaning it does not have a train) and of course, I loved the colors (think about red shoes underneath!! cute!!). One other bonus to getting an informal wedding gown - cost. Yup, they are much cheaper! For instance, this wedding gown sells for around $450.00!

Some pretty fun ideas, don't you think? I love this bunting banner too! Because 
you get the PDF version, you could incorporate a lot of if the flags into other 
parts of the wedding - DIY invitations, candy buffet signs, wedding programs...so many uses! 

Elegant Handmade Card Boxes

Over 7 years ago, artisan Glenn began selling her card boxes on Ebay. Now her company has become the US #1 maker of elegant and sophisticated wedding card boxes - and just check them out to see why! 

Her shop, TheWeddingMainSt, is the trendsetter of elegant and sophisticated wedding card boxes. All of the items in her shop are made to order and she can work with you to create the ideal card box for your event.

 You can buy the custom boxes from her Etsy store or direct from her website!

 

25 Photo Cards - FREE! Just pay shipping!

Well, here's a great deal to start off the week - I mean, free is always good - right? SeeHere is offering this deal to new customers. You can get 25 photocards for any occasion but, specifically for weddings they have: Save the Date, Thank You, Bridal Shower Invites and more!

One thing about planning a wedding - it always involves a lot of pictures. I had fun trying the site out and it was really easy to use! You can delete their premade wording to create your own (I like that option!) so try it out today!

Personalized Wire Bridal Hangers

Adorable. Artistic. Unique. These are my thoughts when I see the items being added to deliziare's Etsy store. Designer Amber Weaver, creates these amazing hangers and what makes them unique is her lettering style:

Everyone has their own unique style of handwriting and the same goes for wire writing. The last thing you'll want to purchase, for yourself or as a gift, is a hanger that is not legible. Amber guarantees that her lettering is clear, neat and she guarantees that she will never send out a piece that she is not 100% satisfied with! Now, that is amazing customer service! Another different thing you will find with Amber's hangers is that she will customize the color of the hanger, for an additional fee:

The personalized hangers are $22.00 and a customer color painted hanger is an additional $2.00. What an amazing price for a personalized bridal hanger that you will keep....forever!

In addition to her personalized bridal hangers, Amber is now offering extra goodies! These are the items that got me excited - they are different and unique:

Blooming Love Wedding Sand Unity Ceremony Vase Set - $40.00

Custom Wire Heart Names Wedding Cake Topper - $45.00

Custom Initials Heart Wire Wedding Cake Topper - $25.00

Alternative Vintage Floral Wire Wedding Bridal Bouquet - $80.00

Beach Inspired Palm Tree Crystal Spray Wire Wedding Cake Topper - $28.00

Monogram Charm Embellishments for DIY Invitations

Tonight, I came across these adorable monogram charms that could be the finishing touch on your DIY invitations! 

These charms are tiny - measuring in at .08"x.08" but, I could see additional uses for them - like maybe bridesmaid bouquet charms? They are priced at only $2.99 each! The website, Paper Wonders, also has a selection of custom made invitations, pretty papers and other goodies!