Our favors are dying...

I really wanted to have favors that were alive - like fresh flowers or succulents. Fresh flowers weren't really in the budget but I found some great agave plants that I nurtured for months leading up to the wedding. I thought this was even better because I just happen to do research on prehistoric uses of agave in the North American Southwest. (If interested you can watch some of my work featured in a NPR Science Friday video here.)



Agaves bloom only once in their lives and then they die. But the bloom produces dozens of small baby agave plants that keep the generations alive so to speak. I really wanted to translate this idea and had a very romantic notion that our guests would give us back a baby agave once their favor bloomed and we would continually propagate our agaves like we would propagate our love.



Well this is sort of working out but I think the 100+ temps in Phoenix are doing a doozy on our little plants of love. Either that or our friends have black thumbs. I have gotten reports that many agave plants are no longer. I even planted about a half dozen outside our office building on campus where we first met - someday thinking that we would return to them as flourishing adults. But they are on their last legs as well.

Hopefully in 10-15 years we will have some survivors.... I hope this isn't an omen of some sort. Just kidding. It would be nice to be able to get some back, but it will be just as meaningful to reminisce about our wedding day.

Reception Photos are In!

So excited to get news from Sara at Brides for Brides Photography that our photos from our Fiesta reception are on their way! They turned out great and I wish I had more time to look at them. I have a busy week with school and work so hopefully will get back to regular posting soon.

Until then here is a little teaser from our reception:


Can't wait to share the results of the photo booth! Hilarious!

Cool Find of the Week

How fabulous is this idea? I saw it here from Offbeat Bride.



Not only did the bride rock an awesome red wedding dress but the wedding had tons of creative ideas. Here are thier words about the cutout:

" We blew our parents' wedding photos up to life size, cut out the faces, and put them on stands like a carnival photo opp. We got a Polaroid camera and asked guests to pose in the cut-outs and write a message to us on the photo (or take their own on their digital photos)."

So wish I would have seen this a few months ago.

Kid's Wedding Activity Book

Apparently I just can't stop with the DIY projects. I made an activity book for our little quests at our Fiesta themed reception this Saturday. I was already planning to do an activity book for our hometown reception in May where there will be a half dozen or so little cousins running around. Doing it now allowed me to test out some ideas (and well you know, procrastinate of course).



The project was really simple. I pulled together some images and printed them out on some cardstock leftover from our invitations. I scored the pages down the center then used a hole punch and some more left over ribbon to secure the pages. And Voila!


I used images from the web such as those found here. I also found some great ideas from this post on Bridal Buds. You can download a word document and print it out as is after changing the names or play around with some of the images like I did. Many people include word searches or crosswords. Out lil' quests are all <7 so we didn't include anything but coloring pages. I will include little bundles of colors for them to use at the party or to take home and color later.

What are you doing for the lil' quests?

Show me a sign!

This week has been full of the final DIY projects. Only a few more days to go!!!

I blogged a few months ago about how we are trying to reuse several items we already have or only buy new things that we can use after the wedding as a way to be more ecofriendly. I finished up all of the signs for the Fiesta reception using frames we already have as well as left over paper from the invitations. This was also very budget friendly in addition to being green!

The Buffet Menu:

The Bar Menu:

The Candy Table:

Kids at the Wedding

I am so excited that we have 2 kids coming to our Fiesta Wedding reception. Okay, so I know it is not that many but I really wanted some kids to come. They always seem to lighten the mood. And well I am not going to lie, I had big ideas for some kid centric DIY projects and if no kids were coming it would seem silly to do the projects. I plan on making some sort of gift bag for our two special short friends that includes some activity books and crayons and not sure what else....

What do you think about these activity books from We Met in a Bar. Didn't she do a fabulous job!


At our hometown reception in Nebraska this May there will be plenty of kids. I will have to use this idea then as well. Since it is a backyard reception I was also thinking of getting some bubbles or setting up a special small table covered in butcher paper for them to go wild coloring.

Any other ideas for little quests?

Photobooth

I spoke with our photographer the other day. We discussed how we are going to turn this:


Gazzebbo from our venue


into this:





from Spencer Boerup Photography


from Molly Vaden Photography


from Calla Evans Photography

from Julia Williams Photography


from Pelaz Photgraphy

I have a bunch of props already - feather boas, fake mustaches, a sombrero, and other misc. things. I still need to get a sheet or piece of fabric to hang. I am super excitted about this project and can't wait to see the restults.

Anyone else doing a photobooth? What sort of props are you including?

DIY Project: Agave Favors

You may not be asking for wedding advice, but I am going to give it.

DO NOT try to grow your own wedding centerpieces or favors!

Unless of course you have a green thumb - which apparently I do not. I have previously posted about the pots with small agave plants that I am using to decorate the reception tables. Afterward the guests can take home and plant as a favor. I have really enjoyed this project but think I have killed at least half of the plants. There was a horrific storm a few months ago and my lack of attention caused many casualties. Not to fear because I have recently "obtained" some more small agaves with the help of some covert graduate students, long gardening sheers, and a recently bloomed agave plant on the ASU campus (thanks ladies!).

Recently I finished the signs that will go with each pot.


On the back of the sign I adhered a Thank You note and directions on how to care for the plant using the Avery sticker labels. Each sign is made from a colorful Lotteria cards (a popular Mexican bingo-type game) and a Popsicle stick. So even if I kill the rest of the agaves I will have something to display.


Another great thing about the lotteria cards is that our quests can learn Spainish while they enjoy a Mexican dinner!

Signature Drink

I read somewhere that a good signature drink incorporates something from the couple's past with the "theme" of their wedding. Following that tradition we are incorporating

prickly pear syrup (from the ubiquitous prickly pear cacti in Arizona where we met and live)
+ Tequila (from our Mexican Fiesta theme and engagement site of Mexico)
= a Prickly Pear Margarita

photo from Martha Stewart

Unfortunately our reception site doesn't allow for frozen margarita machines but I have sampled many a prickly pear margarita on the rocks and it is just as good.

I am sure everyone is familiar with a margarita. A prickly pear margarita is the same but with the addition of prickly pear fruit juice or syrup (added sweetners). Prickly pear cacti found throughout the Southwest produce the most wonderful bright pink or fuchsia fruit in the spring after flowering. Added bonus of matching our wedding colors!

photos from Wikipedia

In the markets of Mexico and some grocery stores in the US you can find the fruit for sale. I tried to extract the juice from a fruit once and only got about 2 Tbls. Definately not a DIY project to make sufficient quantities of juice. We went to the pros and ordered a gallon of prickly pear syrup to combine with margarita mix for the reception. The recipie is simple - just add 2 oz. of syrup for every 8 oz. of margarita mix. Add lime wedge and enjoy!

photo mine

But what do we call it on the bar menu? Just 'Prickly Pear Margarita'? It seems that good signature drinks also have clever names.

Any ideas?

More Cool Color Inspiration

I noticed that photos from the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine were on-line today so I thought I would share some of the great ideas in this issue and how I would like to incorporate them. The major color palette presented in this issue is pink, yellow, and orange. Based on this inspiration board I made on Polyvore I am obviously a big fan of these colors:

Fuchsia and Orange Wedding by M and M Wedding

Our color palette takes it a step further by brightening up these shades and adding turquoise, lime, and purple.

Sweet Treats: I am in love with these marshmallows! I have always wanted to try to make homemade marshmallows (my favorite sweet treat). I am hoping they are not time consuming and we can make them for the dessert reception in NE.


Hair Clips: These hair clips are so cute I might just have to make some for everyday use! Wouldn't these be great for flower girls? Next time I am at the craft store I will have to check out the flower section. Perhaps there is some sort of turquoise flower I can make a hair clip with for my ensemble...




Placecards: These simple, yet colorful placecards almost make me want to have seating at our reception. I love paper crafts of all sorts and a board with the seating assignments is the one thing I am not tackling. Hmm... we will see how much time there is to add another DIY project.



Ring Pillow: I love this idea for an easy to sew ring pillow. It gave me an idea to make either a ring pillow or a handkerchief out of an old shirt for my "something old". Stay tuned to see what I made...




Colorful Candles: I am not a big fan of candles- especially the smelly kind. But I absolutely love this table scape. The candles really do look like they are floating. Perhaps I could do this for a party someday...

Success!

So the last two weeks have been the most successful of the entire wedding planning progress. I am so excited to share all of the progress and completed DIY projects. If you have been following along I took the last two weeks off of blogging and blog reading (well sort of) to actually get some things done. We are at the 4 month mark to the ceremony and Fiesta reception and I was panicking. I love reading blogs of other brides because they give me such inspiration but they also make me feel like I am completely behind!

So here is a short list of what we accomplished and a sneak peak of what is to come over the next posts.

1) Ordered my dress!! So excited about this one. Dress shopping has included lots of stress, anxiety, and tears. Now that I found it I couldn't be happier and can't wait for the 8-10 weeks until delivery to be over.

2) Decided on cake order. Sprinkles Cupcakes it is! I also celebrated a birthday during my hiatus (along with Matt the day after mine) so there was lots of opportunity to try out different kinds.

3) Decided on photographer, flowers, and the specific location within Red Rock Crossing for the ceremony in Sedona with the wedding planner.

4) Finished Invitations for Fiesta! This was a big job and included lots of design and working decisions for all of the inserts. Here is a sneak peak including my DIY custom map design. I am so excited about this map and am considering going into business. Sorry about the poor quality photos - camera was having issues.













5) Completed all sorts of DIY projects including a "Just Married/Thank You" banner for photos and later announcement and thank you cards, stamp for candy favor bags, started photo albums for reception (instead of slide show), card box, and some serious list making toand supply shopping finish up everything else.

More regular posting and updates to come!

Weekend Projects

I have been crazy busy over the last month and have been really looking forward to this weekend. Even though I still have things to do I promised myself that I would take the weekend to relax and work on some wedding projects.

Guestbook
I found this guestbook a couple of months ago. The cut out design goes great with many of the other decorations and papel picado theme. I added some of our favorite engagement photos using cardstock in our colors. I am calling our colors turquoise, fuchsia, lemon, lime, orange, and plum. I wonder if there are food related terms for turquoise and fuchsia?

Agave Favors
I made a couple of tags for the Agave Favors. I hope this project works out because about half of the agaves look like they are dying. I wanted to work on this project so I could submit an entry for the Martha Stewart Weddings creative favor contest. You can view my entry here. Take a look an rate my entry! I hope Martha will like it. It is sort of my secret dream that she will see it and I will get to go to the show. Fingers crossed!


Papel Picado Banners
I did some work on more Papel Picado banners. I think for the maximum color I will probably do most with just a decorative edge using craft punches. I think the hearts are a little cheesy.


Invitations
I made a first run at the Fiesta Reception invitations. I want to do a mini papel picado banner in our colors. I think they turned out pretty well. The photo is a little blurry to to fully appreciate the details but I love them. I love the font too. It is called Merceed and makes the Ms of our names look really cool. Matt likes it because it looks like a pirate font.


So even through I didn't finish any projects to the point I could cross them of the list, I did make decisions about alot of things. On the list for the rest of the month include:
1) continue dress shopping (spent all afternoon looking and even was about to place an order for one I LOVED - only to find out it was discontinued!!!)
2) print and finish Save the Dates for Fiesta
3) order cake, think about design

Why didn't I think of that....

I would be rich now if I would have thought of the idea below. Definitely trying these for the dessert reception. I have seen a similar idea using cheesecake cut into triangles and decorated like Christmas Trees. But think the pops lined up on a tray would be divine.


From the Brownie Pops website you can order 11 different flavors of brownie balls on a stick dipped in chocolate. Seriously why didn't I think of that? Maybe here is where I can infuse some chipotle flavors into chocolate for a Mexican spicy kick. Sprinkles or drizzling with a different color of chocolate both look great. They also have some cute ghost and pumpkin designs for Halloween.

Catering

We made our catering choice for the Fiesta Reception. After looking around at some options and trying some great Mexican food, we decided on going with the in house cater at the Antique Wedding House. They sent us some pictures of their food. Now we just have to decide on the entree choices. They have 8 choices on the Mexican Buffet option and 10 appetizer choices!! I wish someone would have told me how many decisions there are with planning a wedding....