Dallas Bee Meet Up - Updated Location!

Hey there DFW Bees!

Due to the fact that we can't make reservations for Gloria's, and we know it will be crazy at 7 on a Friday we decided to switch locations for tomorrow night.

The new location is Cantina Laredo!

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Located at:
4546 Belt Line Road
Addison, TX 75244

Check out this thread if you are still interested in dinner and drinks tomorrow night!  Hope to see you there!

Curse You Wine Corks!

Let's set the scene, shall we?  We've come up with the awesome idea to create boarding passes for our escort cards.

Only problem is that they lay flat.  There's nothing wrong with flat escort cards, but I thought that it would be nice to stand them up.  Enter the ever popular wine corks.

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Should be an easy project, right?  Well not so much for us.  See, we don't have a garage filled with awesome tools, like a saw.  We do have X-acto knives and steak knives so we thought "hey we can totally do this on our own!". After picking up 4 packages of wine corks at Michael's, we got to work.  Mr. E cut the corks in half while I worked on cutting the slit on the top.

Can you see where this is going?

If you guessed that I would slice my hand, scream at the non stop blood and curse at the wine corks you would be correct.

I'll spare you the blood, but here's my bandaged hand and the cork culprit.

Wine Corks: 1, Miss E: 0

Although I wanted to forge on, Mr. E decided that it might be wise to come up with another plan.  He fashioned a stand out of scrap paper to attach to the back of the boarding jacket.

May not be as cute at the wine corks, but it's free and it gets the job done.  You're a smart one Mr. E!  One of the many reasons why I'm marrying you ;)

Oh, and the other 3 bags of wine corks?  Quickly returned for other crafting supplies. I didn't need any reminders laying around.

Have you had an injuries while crafting your wedding? What are some other ideas that you have used to stand up the escort cards?

Elephant Invites - The Cost Breakdown

We LOVE how our DIY invites turned out, but did we really save money doing them ourselves?

The pieces of our invites came from 4 different sources: Paperandmore.com, Michael's, Office Max and Vista Print.  I ordered supplies to make 150 invites, although we only sent out 109.  Extra supplies (such as paper, ribbon and full sheet labels) have found their way into other projects for the wedding.

Items from paperandmore.com
Dark Blue Pearlescent Metallic A-7 Petal cards 3 packs of 50 x $35.99* = $107.97
Linen Cardstock 2 packs of 100 x $15.99 = $31.98
A7 Green Fairway Metallic Envelopes 3 packs of 50 x $14.99 = $44.97
Flat rate shipping = $3.99

*The petal cards are now $3 cheaper per set of 50.

Items from Michaels
Ribbon for belly bands = $25
Green Cardstock for matting = $15

*Items from Michaels estimated based on the amount used for invites (I purchased at different stores during sales)

Items from Office Max
Full Sheet Labels for wrap around labels= $14.06

Items from VistaPrint
RSVP Postcards = $28.47

*Postcards were purchased with email deals that included free uploads & free postcards)

Postage
106 Domestic invites & postcard stamps = $122.96
3 International invites = $5.16

Total Materials = $271.44
Total Postage = $128.12

Total Per Invite = $2.49
Total With Postage = $3.67


Without looking at the postage (since we would have spent that on invites if we made them or purchased them) the total per invites was only $2.49.  I think that's a pretty good deal based on some of the online invites we were looking at.  Was it the cheapest option?  Nope.  Of course there are less expensive invites out there (such as the box sets at Michael's and Target), but we couldn't find any blue and green ones that we really liked.

DIY invites definitely take some time and can end up costing more than other invites available, but with the reactions of our guests I would say they were well worth it!

Were invites an area in your budget to save or splurge (that letterpress can be very tempting!)?

Elephant Invites - The Final Reveal

Now that you have seen the team work that put together the invites, how about seeing the invites themselves?

Here is the envelope that stood out among the normal junk mail in mailboxes of our guests (or so we hoped).  Visualize the King and Queen of Heart stamps on the envelope. On the first trip to the post office to ask the amount I was told 88 cents.  Second time around I was told 81 cents.  I opted to be safe with the two 44 cent stamps, plus they were cute!

Look at that metallic shine...love! 

Flip it over and they will find the rest of our wrap around label, made by Mr. E, and the cutest picture thanks to our very own Mrs. Sewing! We have heard from several guests that asked where we found something that looked liked us, and I was happy to explain that a friend actually drew it! (These pictures look so much better without all the blurring, sorry!)

I debated back and forth on doing an envelope liner, and although they are really pretty I decided against it.  I figure that people most likely will open this the same way I open my mail, which is with a letter opener, pair of scissors or knife (whichever is closer).

Pull it out, and they will find their names on the belly band.  Thanks to the Hive we went with the clean square look.  Several of our guests loved the personalization of the belly bands, which tells me that the little bit of extra time to type them all out was worth it.

Metallic shine on the petal card as well

Here are all of the pieces to the puzzle. With the exception of the petal cards and the postcards, everything else was printed and cut by yours truly.  That is some serious quality time with my paper cutter!

A little (or really a can or 2 of) spray adhesive left me with these components.  The Hotel Accommodations and Send Off Brunch are actually one card, back and front.  

For our main invite, we decided to stick with simple, which was more our style.  Mr. E picked out the font for our names and I picked out the font for the rest of the information.  We decided on a simple flourish on the bottom.  I'm not going to try and pull one over on you guys, I only embossed about 20 of the invites for those that I thought might actually keep them (our parents, my bridesmaids, my aunt).  Everyone else received one with the flourish printed on.

You've already seen the RSVP postcard, so we'll move onto our other insert, the hotel/send off brunch card.

Since our wedding is Easter weekend, I made sure to put a note on the card. Just in case some people don't really check the calendar before responding.  Our send off brunch will be the following day for any guests that wish to join us.

There's a better shot of the drawing created by Mrs. Sewing based off of our engagement pictures.  Isn't she talented? I love it!  You will most likely see it in one more DIY project before the wedding.

And here is one last shot of all the pieces.  I'm so proud of all the hard work that went into these!  From the feedback we have heard, it appears that our guests enjoyed receiving them.

For anyone that created DIY invites, did you feel like the work was worth the outcome?  

Elephant Invites - Putting The Pieces Together

I have to thank a home town bribe for the completion of our invites.  Mom, Dad, Brother E, Mr. E and I spent a morning putting together our wedding invites and then were treated (by Mama E) to Philly cheesesteaks for lunch.

Yum!

I can't thank my family and Mr. E enough for pulling together to knock these off in less than 2 hours.  The majority of the cutting and gluing was completed by yours truly prior to this session, but being able to finish these with so much help was a load off of my shoulders. 

Brother E was in charge of numbering the RSVPs with the black light pen. He's all for the "easier" tasks

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Daddy & Mama E were hard at work on cutting the ribbon for the belly bands.

Mr. E made use of my paper trimmer (best $30 spent for these DIY projects!) for the wrap around labels while I assisted with the ribbon cutting.

Once all of the cutting was complete we started an assembly line with the invites, RSVPs, hotel cards and belly band wrapping.

Brother E was a wee bit upset when Mama E caused a backlog in the assembly line.

My mom and I worked on wrapping and gluing the belly bands while my dad and brother peeled the stamps for the envelopes.  Mr. E handled the stuffing of envelopes and sticking on the wrap arounds.

Everything is better with a cold beer

Two hours later and we were left with a box full of invites ready to go!

Next Up: The reveal of our invites!

Did you enlist the help of your family or friends to stuff and stamp your invites?

MOB Dress Shopping - The Winner

Mama Elephant and I have been shopping a couple of times (some of the contenders were shown here) with no luck on finding the one.  That is not the case after last weekend...winner, winner, chicken dinner! (Bonus points for anyone that can name the 2 movies that quote was used in.)

My mom was looking for a dress with color (preferably blue, but she was open to other colors except red) and some bling, so we headed out with the intentions of hitting up a couple of stores suggested by our planner for a stylish MOB dress.  Before checking out those suggestions, we headed to the bridal store that I purchased my dress as well as ordered all 4 of our bridesmaids dresses (side note: those dresses just came in and I can't wait to see what they look like on my friends). Little did we know that it was going to be a one stop shop type of day!

The first dress was a pretty shade of blue, but had no bling.  We thought we could add a beaded belt, but after getting it on, we knew a belt probably would not look right.

The next dress was a suggestion of the consultant helping us.  We both laughed when we saw it because we knew it was not her style, but my mom tried it on anyways just to be nice.

The next dress had the bling and the color, but was a little too open in the back.  We're getting close!

And finally, the winner.  This dress was everything that my mom wanted.  It had the coverage that made her feel comfortable, the flowiness (pretty sure that's not a word, but let's go with it) that will be perfect for an April wedding in Texas, and the color and bling that she dreamed of.  This dress was it!  And the best part?  With the 20% off card I had received in the mail, this dress came in way under the budget she had set for herself.

Sorry for the bright lighting

Isn't she beautiful?

I love this dress on my mom, and I love that we were able to find it together!

Did you have any input on your mother's ensemble for your wedding?

Those Babies Have Left The Nest!

And it feels so good!

I have been thinking about/working on/putting together our invites for what seems like years!  Piece by piece our DIY invitations have been building up in our guest room closet, until last week when we finally mailed those bad boys out.

We sent them out early in hopes that there is a chance to invite some of the B list after we receive "no" responses (most likely from out of state family that don't really travel, and I haven't seen in over 15 years).

I can't wait to share the final product, but until then here's Mr. E dropping them into the hands of the postal service.

How did you feel when you finally dropped your invites in the mail?

Dallas Bee Meet Up!

Hey Dallas/Fort Worth area bees!

Get excited, it's time for a local bee meet up!!  On Friday, January 28 we're heading out to Gloria's in Addison at 7:00 pm for yummy food, tasty drinks and great conversation.

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RSVP to this thread on the boards if you want to join in on the fun times!!

Hope to see you there!

This Could Be A Hairy Situation

Or it could be almost exactly what I envisioned!  It's makeup and hair trial time!

You may remember that I have actually had my makeup done once or twice (or 3 or 4 times but who's counting). You see, what had happen was... for the first set of engagement pictures we used the Clinque makeup counter which was ok, but I knew that I really wanted air brush for the wedding.  The second set of engagement pictures required a last minute air brush appointment with an artist who was lovely, but a little bit out of our budget.  The 3rd trial was pretty bad, so the search continued.

As luck would have it, MOH Navy gifted hair and makeup to each of her bridesmaids for her wedding so I was able to get another trial for free.  I loved my hair and makeup at her wedding, but sadly the company owner was already booked for our wedding date.

Me, MOH Navy, BM Cali and friend E

The good news was that Kelly (the owner) has a team of artists that are available for April, so we scheduled a  hair and makeup trial with Vetty.  Vetty not only nailed it with my look, but she is one of the sweetest people to boot.  Bonus points!  Ok enough of the talking, time for the pictures...

A little blurry before picture

Makeup complete

Adding in the extensions, we used the clip in kind which were so much quicker than what I'm used to. (Back in the day when I did extensions, they were sewn into my head).

And now for the finished hair, from the side.

And with the addition of the hair clip that I purchased when I picked up my dress.  I think the only change we are going to make is to get longer extensions to add a little more volume/design to the bun.

From the front, with a better look at the makeup.

And with the veil, do I look like a bride?

Vetty was sweet to take it down and curl the ends since I didn't want Mr. E to see it up. Just to make sure I got all that I could from this trial, I headed out to get my new passport picture taken and later went to party it up.

I was very happy with how the makeup lasted!  I'll be sure to pack some powder/oil plotting sheets and lipstick to touch up for the reception.

10 hours and several rounds of flip cup/beer pong later.

Did you have a hair or makeup trial prior to your wedding?  Were you satisfied with your first trials or did you keep looking? 

Quick & Easy Table Numbers

I have already mentioned our table names for the reception, but I couldn't just stop there.  I loved this inspiration picture shared by Mrs. Stripes as well as her reception set up with the milk glass vases.

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We've decided to do table numbers for our rehearsal dinner due to the large number of guests.  I think it'll just be easier for everyone, and it gives me an excuse to use these IKEA frames. I did this on the cheap, using paper left over from the pink and red pack I purchased to make MOH Navy's bachelorette sign.  I cut it down to size, 2 pieces for each frame.

I downloaded the El Rio Lobo font from dafont.com to go with the Tex Mex location of our rehearsal dinner. A little spray adhesive and we're good to go.

Instead of numbers on both sides, I choose to use an abbreviated version of the Bride & Groom Fun Facts on the back (an idea I borrowed from Mrs. Fro Yo) that guests will see in our programs.  Since many of our rehearsal dinner invites are for those that will be standing with us, they probably won't have a chance to read over the program during the wedding. ;)

Now I just need to find some cheap vases (hopefully from another bride that is looking to sell) or follow in the steps of Mrs. Socks and buy some cheap vases and paint them white.

Anyone else using these cute frames for your table numbers?

Thanks for coming from OOT

My first experience with out of town (OOT) welcome gifts came at the wedding of our friends (and wedding party members) BM Aggie & Groomsman Runner. Mr. E and I weren't really from out of town, but we stayed at the hotel in Dallas because I didn't want to drive 30 mins home after the reception and wanted to be there for the send off brunch the next morning!

BM Aggie & Groomsman Runner had a lot of family members from Canada fly in for the wedding, so I think that their welcome packages were a very cute Texas touch - cowboy hats filled with goodies!

In the hotel showing off the gift basket

 

Close up of the hat filled with water, snacks and playing cards

I thought these were such a great idea and knew that I wanted to do something like that for our wedding. I jumped at the sale of gable boxes left over from another Dallas bride's wedding.

I played around with some ribbon, left over cardstock, corner rounder, and adhesive runner and came up with a couple ideas for how to decorate these boxes.  My favorite look was a thicker ribbon with the rounded welcome sign.

Note: We'll be adding "to Dallas" to the Welcome sign

I was all set on the ribbon (although it could get a little pricey) until I saw this post on Washi Tape from Mrs. Glasses, and received a link to Happy Tape from Weddingbee reader Marley.

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I love trying new things (especially when they come out cheaper than my other ideas), so I ordered a pack and tested it out.

What do you think?  The lime green is a little more yellowish than I would like, but other than that I was pretty excited about it.  And the costs savings, from what I was spending on ribbon, made this a win in my book.

Next on the to do list will be to figure out what to put in them, other then water bottles with some personalized labels. I'm planning on buying several items in bulk from Costco closer to the wedding.

Are you doing OOT boxes/bags? If so what did you put in them?