Bathroom & Pashmina Basket Finished

 

I've finished off a few more of our DIY projects today

First was our Pashmina Basket, 1/2 pink & 1/2 white and tied with a silver ribbon. The basket hasn't arrived yet, but if it doesn't arrive in time, this is a good back up

 

 

 Also finished our Bathroom Baskets

 

 

and the wedding schedule pack for the bridal party. It has a map, driving instructions from Sydney to the Hunter Valley, weekend event list, wedding day timeline and contact numbers 

 

 

 

 

Slipper Basket Finished !

Now that I have finalised the design of our reception stationery, I can finish off lots of projects that have stalled while they waited for the last stationery piece of the project.

First one was our slipper basket

The slippers have all been bagged for a while and all that was missing was the swing tags. The design is inspired by our logo and has the size on one side and a poem on the other "bought new shoes to match your dress and now they're feeling tight? Have not a care just take a pair and you can dance all night".

One last minute change was I found some cute sparkly silver & glitter bags which I will use for the bridal party & my immediate family. As I don’t want them to miss out, I have taken a pair of slippers in their size and will have them placed on their seat at the reception.

I have also finished the welcome party & reception signage

Welcome Sign

Menu's, Bathroom Basket, Pashmina Basket & Candy Bar signs

And for a bit of fun Bride & Groom wedding day timelines!

Candy Bar Goodies

The popcorn bar has now almost fully become a candy bar as it will be a lot easier for me to set up and I can organise the contents well ahead of time. If we had stuck to popcorn only I would have had to make/collect it a day before the wedding and that’s cutting it a bit fine.

I’ve had to promise our jnr. groomsman that we will still have candy popcorn as it’s his favourite and DF wants his fizz wizzes!

Sticking with our colour theme these some of the treats that have already arrived.....pink M&M’s, pink & silver Hershey kisses, marshmallows, chocolate truffles, white & pink rock candy, lolly pops, pink foil choc balls and pink kit kats minis.

 

Welcome Bags – Hunter Reception

I have been planning our welcome bags for months, it’s one of my favourite wedding projects and today with the help of a great mate, we worked all day & finished them finally !!!

I wanted to make a goodie bag filled with treats & all the little things you might have forgotten or would like when arriving at a hotel. Now the tricky part …. quantity & cost ….. we have to make 70 and have a budget of $8.50 per bag MAX ! I had some great ideas of what I could include but things could get expensive quickly, so I had to think of fun & creative ways to fill up the bags on a budget.

I have dropped the canvas bag idea and gable boxes are out too as they are both expensive, instead I have opted for a natural brown bag with a big welcome sticker on the front.

For the contents we called in a favors, changed & swapped out items & bought in bulk to save on the cost but not quality.

1 x Mini bottle of Pink blush champagne $ 4.50

1 x Mini bottle of coke $0.95

2 x plastic wine glasses $free

1 x pkt kettle chips $0.95

1 x Block of Cadbury chocolate $1.40

1 x pkt of Wine charms (DIY)

2 x jars of local hunter valley jam $1.00

1 x pkt of Disney Princess tissues $ 0.10

1 x pkt of Disney Princess tissues $ 0.10

2 x pkts of chewing gum $free

1 x tube of cocoa butter hand crème $free

1 x mini bottle of hand sanitiser $free

1 x local information pack, map, brochures & weekend schedule

The final contents & cost $9.00 per bag

Unfortunately the pictures aren’t that great but I will take more and replace them when I have a chance.

Fish Extender Exchange Gifts

I’m a perfectionist, I just can’t help myself and sometimes it's just easier to do things yourself (I know control issues much!) and the FEE is a classic example.

We have 25 families in our FEE group so we need 25 gifts (one for each family) from each of our family groups. Instead of asking each of my family groups to make/get their group of gifts and then stress about it being forgotten, I thought it was easier to make them myself.

 

Yes which means I am making 5 sets of 25 gift packages or 125 individual FEE gifts.

 

First up were the bag labels, one from each family

 And then the gift bags, I’ve tried to put a little Aussie in each set…

 

And then for ease of delivery I have made a large brown bag for each stateroom and put one of each family gift in it.

Disney Newsletter Edition 1

The first edition of our Disney newsletter went out today!

It’s jam packed with not only cruise & wedding details but also lots on the trip in general and the week in WDW.

 

I have been including a travel essential in each mail out so that by the time we depart everyone has a cute little collection of travel essentials to take with them.

The first essential went out with the invitation (we skipped the Save the Date as we were still undecided on location at that time) was the latest edition of the Disney Cruise line guide, this time I am including my DIY luggage tags !!

 

Bridesmaid Shopping Day

We had our first official Bridesmaid’s shopping day to look for dress styles & colours we liked. As the studio we were going to was an hours drive away I made up shopping bags for the girls with the necessities we would need for our road trip.

First was our style card, especially as one of the girls is overseas and couldn’t join us, I wanted to keep all our measurements and choices together so we could refer to them later.

And what trip would be complete without champers!

Mickey Earrings by Avon

One of the girls on disboards pointed me to these gorgeous Mickey Mouse earrings by Avon.

I love them; they are perfect for our Disney guest welcome bags!

 

 

As Avon Australia don’t have them I have found something almost identical in Sterling Silver with Cubic Zirconia’s.

 

The Perfect Wedding Gift

Is buying the perfect wedding gift really that difficult?

Buying the perfect gift has turned into somewhat of an art form nowadays. Some put enormous amounts of time into choosing the perfect gift, thinking about the bride & grooms likes & dislikes, hobbies & homes, then the best & most creative way to wrap & deliver it.

Others mistakenly believe that the more it costs the better & more memorable it will be, and let’s not forget those who stumble on the only box of chocolates within the ‘expiry date’ at the service station – 15 minutes before the ceremony starts.

I love buying gifts for people; so far it is my favorite part of wedding planning. As now I get to purchases all kinds of gifts and favors for everyone! But I know a lot of my friends dread buying things for me. As I love gifts that are unique, one off’s, handmade and have character. I especially love things that have a personal significance between the gift giver & receiver.

So how do you find the perfect gift that the couple will love without breaking the bank?

The easiest way to start is by taking a look at the gift registry, although don’t feel you must stick to it exactly if you don’t want to. If you do decide to purchase from the gift registry:

*Decide before you go shopping what your budget is and stick to it!

*There is no rule that says you have to spend your entire budget on one item

*Get in early as often the lists are created months in advance and items can sell out or may only have seasonal availability.

*Add your own personal touch to items from the registry, for example have towels monogrammed with their initials or purchase the vase they wanted and fill it with kitchen gadgets.

If you decide not to purchase from their list can you expand on it? Does a particular brand or designer appear several times on their list? You can always choose an item from the same collection (but not off the list), that way you know it their taste, but it’s still a surprise.

Most importantly don't re-gift items that you dont want! dollars to donuts if you didn't like it, neither will ! 

Whatever you decide to purchase (or make) just remember the thought you put into it is far more important than the price tag.

DIY Project - Bridal Party Loot !

This is one of my favourite prjects hands down!! along with collecting items for our OOT bags I have been collecting gifts & extra little bits & pieces for months & months for our bridal party welcome / gift packs.

 I have a great stock pile of things that I was planning on filling the bags with when we were having our big WDW wedding. Unfortunately many of the things I have been collecting don’t really work now that we are not going as a group, but some will still be ok. 

I haven’t got much for the boys bags yet, especially as they really won’t appreciate all the Disney stuff now, but I can always stock up on snacks & alcohol for the boys.

So far I have ordered the monogrammed pink tote bags for the girls and blue back packs for the boys

Bridesmaid goodies so far ...

Flower Girl goodies so far......

Maid of Honour goodies so far .....

I still have plenty to collect for the bags and for 6 or 7 people I know who have madly scrolled to the bottom of this post, in the hope of seeing your special gifts that FH & I have organised........ Too Bad So Sad … you all have to wait for the rehearsal dinner to see what they are !!!!

Disney Honeymoon Registry Card

When I got home from work today; I was excited to find a FedEx parcel waiting for me. I had absolutely no idea what it could be and while ripping into the packet, I was trying to think what I could have bought and forgotten about!  

When I eventually got the packet open it was a letter from Disney! and our Honeymoon Registry Gift Card ! 

Now we can activate our online gift registry and our guests can contribute to items on it as a wedding gift to us if they like. We will be probably end up purchasing most the things on the registry as it’s a great way for us to take advantage of the dollar while it is doing better. 

Plus we got a super cool free gift for reigistering