Checks!

Last count, were at 17 days.

Well. . .lots of changes have been made and everything is coming together!

1. Got my dress in for alterations. After she pinned it in a few places it was fitting much better; I can't wait to see the final product! She also pinned up the bustle; a low, 6 point single french with lots of folds. Very romantic, soft, and beautiful.

2. D'Anelli bridals cleaned my dress that previously had a filthy hem and some dirt around the zipper. I can't believe how clean they got it: it looks brand new.

3. Bridesmaid dresses are being cut as we speak. No, they aren't even close to being done. Next week I'll head up to my mom's house and we will get them all finished in one day. . .I can't wait to see them. I'm getting a little frustrated with everybody on my case about this; unfortunately there is nothing I can do until both my mom and I have a free day to get them done.

4. I have a hair trial and makeup trial scheduled for next week! My 2nd fitting in on July 3rd, and that will be my final fitting unless more alterations are needed.

5. I've decided against the green crinoline - fortunately I did a professional job on it and can sell it on craigslist. I love the idea of the colored crinoline, but I have something even better up my sleeve! Not only that, but we all agreed that my dress will fit even better if we sew crinoline directly into the skirt as part of the alterations. The crinoline slip adds bulk around my hips and waist that I don't want; we simply need to fill out the skirt, not my hips!

6. Well, we're getting real bouquets. My mom found out (well, she knew, but it didn't process until last week) that we were doing silk bouquets because of the cost difference. She said 'my daughter is not walking down the aisle with fake flowers!'. So, we spoke with our florist who is adding real bouquets to our floral order; my mom offered to pay for them and we managed to keep them at a reasonable price!

Our florist is providing the following (both photos are from her website):

a. Bouts: purple mini cala with berries and greenery for the guys, large calla with berries and greenery for the girls

b. Bridal bouquet (left): 3 large purple callas, ivory roses, yellow berries, greenery: very mountain-y without being a busy wildflowers bouquet.

c. Bridesmaids bouquets (right) : Purple mini callas with yellow berries and greenery.

d. Centerpieces: our wonderful florist (we LOVE her) suggested sunflowers to submerge in the water. They were cheaper than fake ones, and will be beautiful, bright, and mountain-y!

e. Cake flowers: wildflowers for the cake

f. Toss petals for our flower girl

The reason we went with callas is because the purple ones closely match the bridesmaid dresses and because my engagement ring was inspired by calla lilies growing in California. (Calla by Nelson). I LOVE the berries, and roses, callas, and berries all hold up well in heat.

7. Our seating chart is done, and the table runners are almost finished. I'm going to make a wreath out of the rest of the silk flowers to go on the front door of our venue.

17 days! I can't wait :)

DIY Bridal Bouquet

As with the bridesmaids pomanders, we chose to use silk hydrangeas for my own personal bouquet. I though a pomander might have been awkward for me to walk down the aisle with, so I opted for a more traditional hand-tied bouquet. I chose ivory hydrangeas and decided that it would be best to keep it as simple as possible.

Originally I had planned on the addition of purple berries to this bouquet, however when placed it looked like the flowers had measles! The addition of a few purple and yellow hydrangeas were just as bad, and Dave and I both agreed that the bouquet would be best as-is with just the ivory hydrangeas and green leaves.

I used 5 stems of flowers, which I arranged so they formed a full, round ball and secured with green floral tape. The leaves were places using floral wire and hot glue, and the bouquet was finished using ivory and purple ribbon wrapped around the stems.

Like the pomanders, the bouquet looks professional and real, compliments my dress, and goes well with the elegant mountain theme. I think a lot of people expected us to go with a more busy, wild-flower like bunch-type bouquet, but this is one thing I wanted to be somewhat traditional about.

I don't want things that distract from the mountain backdrop, so this seemed quite appropriate and I'm thrilled with both the result, and the fact that nobody has to be put on 'flower duty' the weekend of the wedding!

Break-a-Way Toss Bouquet

Today's project was inspired by both my desire to do something different than a usual bouquet toss, and by a bride who had come up with this fun and unexpected idea and posted her project online to inspire other brides.

I made a 'Break-a-way' toss bouquet, that when thrown will break into 5 smaller bouquets for the girls to catch. Each one is hand tied of purple silk carnations and has a fortune attached to it's ribbon:

a. You will marry your best friend
b. You will be the next to marry
c. You will marry the man of your dreams
d. You will find your true love this year
e. You will fall in love when you least expect it

I used three carnations in each bouquet, and satin ribbon wrapped around the stems to hold them together. A hot glue gun came in handy for securing the ribbon ends, which were wound tightly so the flowers are going nowhere!

For the fortune, I used a length of the same ribbon we'll be making belly bands for the invitations out of. I printed the text on plain white paper and used hot glue to attach it to the green invitation ribbon. I also added an ivory shimmer card stock flower (found at Michael's, Brides.com table confetti) for effect.

Held together, the bouquet looks like a large, round bridal bouquet. Once tossed, it falls into the individual pieces and offers a fun surprise. Another easy, DIY project!