Last minute projects...I like to procrastinate!

The week before the wedding was an absolute blur, and I mean it! The amount of appointments and tasks on my to do list was staggering, but somehow the clan was able to pull it together in the end!

I wanted to share a few of my last minute projects that were pulled together before the wedding! Lets begin with...OOT bags! Our guests were staying at a suite style hotel, so each of their rooms was equipped with a full kitchen! This definitely allowed for us to provide some yummy snacks for them!

I'll be honest; I didn't take photos of the contents of the bags, but here is what each of them included:

• 2 water bottles with monogrammed sticker label (this one):

• 2 instant lemonade mixes
• bag of microwave popcorn
• 2 chewy granola bars
• 2 bags of Miss Vickie's chips
• 1 bag mixed nuts/trail mix
• 2 packs of crackers: cheese and peanut butter
• Welcome packet/information

All of the goodies were placed in a pretty gift bag that I adorned with pinwheels. Pinwheels? Oh yes...remember those pinwheels I told you about a few months ago? Well, that particular project was abandoned part way through, and I was left with a big stack of pinwheels that I wasn't going to use. Hello, OOT bag decorations! I used my hot glue gun to attach a few pinwheels on each OOT bag, and voila! Fancy pants bags!

***Sigh...*** Don't they look fabulous??? I know, I'm totally biased...

The next project on the agenda? Table letters! Yes...I said letters. I decided that I wanted to use letters instead of table numbers simply for financial reasons...less materials to purchase in the end! I am in love with how they turned out! Let's take a little peek at them...

I purchased all of my materials at Michaels, and the process of putting them together was so easy! I purchased the required number of wooden letters, the corresponding number of flat circular discs (located right next to the wooden letters in the store), a bottle of cream acrylic paint, another in brown, and 2 bags of reindeer moss. I painted each of the disc stands brown, and each letter in cream. Using my hot glue gun, I attached each letter to a stand, and then glued bunches of reindeer moss to the stands. Easy peasy...and I think they look fabulous!

And finally, the escort card display! I found some awesome antique-inspired trays/boxes one day, and I knew that they would be perfect to display our escort cards on! We realized that they were a bit too deep to just set the cards into, so we had to come up with a pretty solution! We used some leftover cardboard boxes laying around the house and created a "platform" of sorts in each tray. From there, we fastened some sheet moss to the cardboard so it was no longer visible. It created a pretty platform in which to display the escort cards I printed!

Of course, that really wasn't the end of the projects...but it is the end of the projects that I have photographic evidence of! Justin and his dad created a wonderful faux-to booth for our guests to enjoy, and Justin and I had some fun with spray paint to create our card box!

Don't worry - the garage door is open so we wouldn't asphyxiate ourselves! And finally, we committed my grandmothers, grandfather, and aunt to slave labor in order to create our favors...

Hopefully I'll have some photos to share with you of both of these items when my pro photos come back!

Do you ever leave projects to the last minute? Did you have any wedding-related projects that didn't come together until the final deadline?

Bestowing the bridesmaids...with gifts!

For our wedding week festivities, my bridesmaids arrived a few days early to start the party! Because our pre-wedding plans involved some sun and fun, I wanted my bridesmaid gifts to serve a practical purpose! Yes...I said practical. I wish I could say that I am a creative gift giver, but alas I am not! I happen to be the person who gifts practical items. I know that many brides before me have gifted their bridesmaids with adorable monogrammed tote bags, jewelry, and the like, However, two of the ladies are getting married in the next year (so their monograms would be out of date soon), and my taste in jewelry sometimes differs greatly from that of my maids. Alas...I hit the drawing board.

Inspiration hit me in the store one day when I saw a display of some adorable beach bags for sale! They were lightweight, large, and have a zipper closure (3 very important beach bag attributes, in this Florida girl's opinion...). I was sold...and thus my gift bag was started!

What is a beach bag without a towel? My next addition to the gift was a brightly colored beach towel for each maid, along with an aluminum water bottle.

Next up was a small goodie bag that I put together. It included their favorite candy, a pretty pink nail polish, a nail file, two note pads, and a Burt's Bees chapstick!

And...I didn't want my maids to get bored at the beach...so I included a puzzle book (sudoku, crosswords, word finds, etc.). I never go to the beach without one!

Finally, each of the bridesmaids received a tank top that I crafted for them. I sewed some fluffy organza flowers and attached them to pins. Each tank had two flowers on the strap; because the flowers were attached with pins, the maids can attach them to other items, keep them on the tank, or remove them completely...whatever their heart desires (see...practical Katie...)!

I carefully placed all of the items in the beach bag, and I presented them to the bridesmaids on the first day of our bachelorette festivities. They were able to use the items throughout the course of our wedding weekend festivities to tote their beach items (a few even made their way to our venue as tote bags to carry their "dancing shoes," touch up makeup, and other items)!

Are you a practical gift giver when it comes to your bridal party? What did you gift them/are you planning on gifting them?

Wedding Shower #1

For our nuptials, I was given two wonderful showers. I'll be honest, the first one took place a few months ago...so I'm way way way behind in telling you about it! Truthfully, my new camera was holding my photos captive until recently, so that is my (poor) excuse...

In early March, my Aunt S and my mother's friend Ms. Z threw me an absolutely wonderful bridal shower! It took place at my parents' house, and we had quite a lovely turnout!

Guests arrived, mingled, drank iced tea or homemade sangria, and proceeded to have their gifts attacked/inspected by Theo (he loves tissue paper).

Aunt S introduced herself, and guests went around the room and explained how each of them knew me. Then it was time to eat!

Aunt S, my mom, my grandma, and Ms. Z made a lovely spread: we had 3 types of quiche: traditional quiche lorraine, one with red peppers, spinach, and bacon, and another one with red peppers, spinach, bacon, and mushrooms! Talk about delicious...

And...what was even better: my mom made sure they used low fat half & half in the recipe so that it would be guilt-free! Everything was served with your choice of two salads and fruit.

At the shower, we were able to get a small "preview" of some of the reception decor; we were glad to have an opportunity to utilize some of our birds and vases before the wedding day!

After we ate, it was time to open presents.

I was blown away by everyone's generosity, and I am so excited to use everything! Some of the things we received that I was pumped about (although, I was really excited about everything, to be honest):

• Memory foam mattress topper from Justin's Aunt Punch
• OXO pop container set from Aunt S - oh man...I love these sooo much!
• Part of our place settings from Crate & Barrel from my mom
• TONS of kitchen gadgets - YAY!
• Knife set from Justin's parents - the set we'd been using was SO dull...

After presents (and getting lost in a sea of wrapping/tissue paper), it was time to cut the cake!

Now, this was a ridiculously amazing cake. A local bakery, J.J. Gandy's, makes a famous key lime pie. I seriously dream about it; it is the most perfect key lime pie ever. Well, J.J. Gandy's also makes key lime CAKES! The cake itself is a white cake; they drizzle a key lime liqueur over it as soon as the cake leaves the oven. The filling in the cake is their key lime pie filling, and the cake is frosted with buttercream. Oh...my...gosh...the cake was so delicious it should be outlawed. Seriously. If Justin didn't hate key lime pie, I would have demanded it as a wedding cake. But...I digress...

Ack! I didn't want to ruin the beautiful cake design!

Once the guests chowed down on cake, we began saying our goodbyes. I had such a lovely time, and I was elated that so many wonderful women were able to join us for the occasion!

Were you overwhelmed by the love that was showered on you at a bridal shower?

My bday - time for a giveaway!

Congratulations Shanna from Miss Arkansas Bride! Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway!!!

I thought we'd have a little giveaway, sponsored by Digital Room!

What is up for grabs:

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100 postcards!

Details:
The print postcards are 4"x6." They are printed on 14pt cardstock gloss and are 4 color on both sides!

Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping

Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only. Must be 18 years old and up.


How to enter:

1. Leave a comment and let me know what you would use the postcards for. (1 entry)

2. Follow my blog, or if you are already a follower, make sure you remind me in your comment! (1 entry)

3. Follow me on Twitter @QueButtons, and send out this tweet about the contest: I just entered a #giveaway for 100 postcards on @QueButtons blog- http://bit.ly/df5I5Z (Please RT) (1 entry)

The contest closes at 11:59PM Eastern time on Monday, June 21. I will then select a winner at random after compiling all of your entries!

***As a sponsored post, I am also receiving postcards from Digital Room for hosting this giveaway.

Invitations: the assembly

Now that the wedding is over, I realized that I never fully revealed our beautiful invitations and how I assembled them! Many apologies...

Once I procured my invitation files from Mrs. Gloss, it was time to determine my printing and assembly options!

After driving back and forth to a number of printing locations (Office Max, Staples, Kinkos, etc.), I decided to use Kinko's. They offered a variety of colors of cardstock, and their "mesa white" was a perfect color of eggshell with some natural colored flecks in the paper. We had the invites run off, and I paid an extra fee to have the main invitation cut on their laser cutter. I was confident with cutting the rsvp cards myself though!

I ordered my beautiful envelopes from Cards and Pockets. They had a huge array of different color and size options, and the prices were incredibly reasonable! I also loved that you were able to order samples for $1 a piece (which I did), and you are able to order an exact number of envelopes...thank goodness for not having tons of leftovers! I selected a color called "meadow" for both my invitation and response envelopes. They have a slight metallic sheen to them and are so pretty!

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Once again, I downloaded a free font from Fontspace to use for addressing my envelopes. Yes, I did take the easy way out, but I didn't have the patience to handwrite all of my invitations! I selected a font called akaDora:

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I printed each envelope and then lined it with one of Mrs. Gloss' beautifully designed liners! For the rsvp envelope, we had designed a wrap around label that I glued on. I used a corner rounder for both the invitation and the rsvp, just to create a more finished look!

Traditionally, invitations feature an inner envelope that features the names of the individuals that are invited. Well, I really didn't care to purchase MORE envelopes on top of the ones I already had, so I wanted to come up with an alternative. For inspiration, I walked the aisles of Michaels until I found a wonderful solution! I purchased a tag punch and a bag of raffia to complete my invites.

I had purchased some extra pages of blank cardstock from Kinkos when I printed my invites. I used a 2x4 label template to print my guests' names. After they came out of the printer, I used the punch to make tags. The tag served as the "inner envelope" in my case! Also - to add a bit more detail, I used a stamp to create a design on the back of the tag.

I used a piece of raffia to tie the invite and rsvp together. I added a few extra pieces of raffia to the knot to make it look fuller, and tied the tag to the top. Annnd voila! The invitation was complete! I was very satisfied with how it turned out!

From there, it was time to stuff, seal, and stamp...and then fight with some US Postal Service workers...but that story is for another day...

How long did it take you to assemble your invitations?