My Wedding Report

Remember when I played dress up with Mama Duckling’s wedding dress? Well after trying on her dress I wanted to figure out some way to incorporate the lace into my veil. There was a veil that I loved when I first tried on my dress, but it was a crazy $1000!! That clearly wasn’t it the budget, but I loved the lace edging and thought that maybe we could do the same thing with my mom’s lace.

I hadn’t found a normal veil at a reasonable price yet, and I was nervous about finding someone who could incorporate the lace from my mom’s dress and do it custom for me. I remembered hearing about Candi Merlee’s Crowning Glory Designs and her reasonable prices.

I contacted Candi and it just so happened that she lived about 30 minutes away from me. She invited me to her house so I could try on some veils and figure out what I wanted. I asked Mama Duckling to come with me to design my veil. After being greeted by Candi we went into a room to try on various sample veils to get an idea of what I liked. We also showed her Mama Ducklings dress and that we wanted to incorporate it into the design.

Here are a few of the veils I tried on to get a feel for different styles on me.

After lots of sample veils and discussing what I really wanted we decided that she would take the lace off the bottom of my Mama Duckling’s dress, tea die it (who knew you could die with tea?) so that it would match the more ivory color of my dress. I wanted the veil to be very soft, a little shorter than fingertip length and the lace to not completely frame my face so it didn’t look like I was boxed in.

How much did this custom veil cost me? Fifty-two dollars! Can you believe that? Such a reasonable price and completely custom for me including all the work taking the lace off Mama Duckling’s dress. My veil was ready 2 weeks later and was perfect. And just so you can see, here is a teaser picture from the wedding day.

I highly recommend Candi to anyone that is looking for a custom veil. She was so sweet, easy to work with and it didn’t take long to get the veil back. Also, you don’t have to live in Orange County. She takes veil orders from all over the US and even other countries. She doesn’t have a website in order to keep costs down, but if you are interested her email is: candi@cgveils.com

Are you doing anything to incorporate something special or a piece from the past into your wedding day attire?

Well, first I must apologize for the delay of this post and my absence. I know I promised you the tutorial long ago, and I figure I should probably finish that before I show you all my invitations. In the middle of my wedding craziness my computer hard drive crashed and I lost a whole bunch of blog pictures and posts along with address spreadsheets, contracts and all sorts of other stuff that stresses you out. Not to worry, I think I’ve pieced a lot of it back together in the last few weeks.

Ready for the tutorial on the Duckling save the dates? I’m warning you ahead of time there were quite a few steps. So stay with me and let me know if I start to not make sense.

The original inspiration for our save the dates came from Martha Stewart. I happened to be having a brainstorming meeting with my month-of-coordinator, Courtney from Joyful Weddings and Events and showed her the inspiration picture and a few of the other ideas I wanted to incorporate. Courtney is fellow cricut user so I knew that she would appreciate the idea. She had the idea of adding in the mini envelope for the numbers to come out of and encouraged me to just go for it.

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I knew I wanted to use one of our engagement pictures and bring out some of our wedding colors. So with the idea of a number ribbon, a mini envelope and after making a few test samples, I decided to just go for it.

The Supplies
A7 Papersource Soft White (looks like a light cream)
A7 Lake Envelopes Paper Source
Mini Envelope Lake Paper Source
Fiskars Corner Rounder
Cricut
Opposites Cartridge
Basics Cartridge
Cuttlebug
10 mm ribbon in cream
Raspberry 12x 12 Scrapbook Heavy Paper
Blue 12×12 Scrapbook Heavy Paper
Mini Hole Punch
Mini Xyron Tape Adhesive Runner
Xacto Knife
Scotch Tape

The Graphic Design
I am definitely not a graphic designer, but with Mr. Ducky’s encouragement I decided to do our Save the Date design myself. He definitely helped along the way to help me with how to do the different Photoshop effects since I was very rusty on using the program. I inserted one of our engagement pictures and used the masking feature to create the rounded corners.

I’ve been drooling over Veer’s Feel Script font since Mrs. Lemon shared a sample in a post awhile ago. Feel Script is one of the glyph fonts that Pengy wrote about the other day. To compliment the Feel Script I used Garamont which is just a basic font that came with my computer.

The swirly design you see in the background is a photoshop brush. Pixels and Ice Cream has such a great selection of free photoshop brushes and patterns. I used the April Showers photoshop brushes for our Save the Dates, although there are lots of cute options on the website.

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We printed the Save the Dates on A7 Soft White paper from Papersource. The printer is a Canon MP830 and the quality is amazing. The color is very vibrant and saturated in person. If you are looking for a printer I really recommend this one, because it looks like we got them professionally printed. After everything was printed out we used the Fiskars corner rounder. I bought this after reading a post by Penguin on DIY essentials. It was awesome.

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The Number Strings
To cut out all the numbers and spacers I used the Cricut. The numbers were from the Opposites Attract Cartridge. To get the correct size to fit in the envelope without looking to small I set the settings to 2 inches high and on the shadow setting you see on the Cricut keyboard. After printing all the numbers we had to punch two holes with the mini hole punch so that the ribbon could be laced later. This was probably the biggest pain of the whole project.

For the spacers I selected a rounded square from the Geometrics and Shapes cartridge that already had the slots automatically cut into each square. This was a cartridge that came with my cricut when I originally bought it. This was a big time saver and my family was grateful to not use that hole punch anymore. For the settings I used 1 inch high and that seemed to work well. Also, you may have noticed that the original inspiration had bows in between each set of numbers but ours have spacers and a single bow at the end. Part of this was just the simple fact that bows take way longer, but also that bows create knots that could mean extra postage. Our were regular postage and we bought the forever stamp before pricing went up.

I had originally bought the ribbon from Paper Source but returned it after I found a much cheaper version at Michaels for $0.99 a spool. After cutting all the ribbon to the desired length we tied mini bows at each end. Then it was pretty much back to elementary school lacing the ribbon through. It was important that each number have 2 holes so that it would stay flat and not twist to be perpendicular to the ribbon.

The Mini Envelopes
Before stamping the mini envelope I used the Cuttlebug to emboss the flap so that I wouldn’t have to worry about smearing the ink. By arranging the envelopes like below I could emboss 4 envelopes at once, so it did not take too long.

After all the envelope flaps were embossed I used the Save the Date stamp from Paper Source with silver ink from Colorink. The ink took forever to dry, but showed up really well on the lake blue paper. I think it was meant for embossing. I’d recommend the Brilliance brand if you wanted to stamp without embossing. The ink dries faster. The stamp was the perfect size for the envelope and I felt like the writing tied into the font and look of the overall card. You had to line up the stamp so that it was next to flap.

On the opposite side from the stamp of each envelope I used an xacto knife to cut a tiny slot to string the ribbon through. To make sure you don’t cut through to the other side you can slide a thick piece of paper into the envelope before you make the slot.

Final Assembly!
To attach the number date string I strung the end through the little slot and used scotch tape to secure it. Yeah I know not the most beautiful thing in the world but it worked.

To fold up the numbers I basically did it accordion style with the last two numbers “09″ being on top. I tried to show this in the picture below. Then gently tuck the numbers into the envelope letting the bow stick out just enough to be slightly beyond the flap. I did not seal the flap because I worried about the ribbon sticking and creating issues when it was time to be pulled out. Instead I just made sure the the flap was staying down and flattened the crease a little bit if it wasn’t.

We used the Xyron 3/8 inch Adhesive Runner to stick the mini envelope to the cardstock. I was so impressed with the quality and durability of the “stickiness” from the xyron tape. We also tried the photo mounting squares but they just didn’t work as well. The xyron tape was so easy to roll onto the back and it just stuck. I highly recommend it.

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Last but not least we were able to slide the final product into a regular A7 envelope in lake blue that matched the mini envelope. As I mentioned they were even regular postage using the forever stamps I had bought before postage went up. Often times the post office will charge you for using ribbon, but the bow was so small that it didn’t add extra bulk. Each envelope had a slight bulge from the folded paper and mini envelope but it was still skinny enough to easily slide through the test hole they have at the post office that determines if they charge extra.

My biggest piece of advice? Make sure you have people to help you. I by no means did this by myself. My family was literally an assembly line for all of the different stages. Otherwise I’d probably still be stringing those suckers today.

And that is the long story of the Duckling Save the Dates. I hope it wasn’t entirely confusing. Does anyone have any questions I can clarify?

Up next? Duckling invitations!!

I have finally sent out our Save the Dates and now that I’m sure everyone has received them, I can finally share them with the hive. We’ve seriously taken our sweet time getting these guys out due to delays from school, life and just general procrastination. But oh well they are out and I’ve finally uploaded the pictures to share!

Without further ado here are the Duckling Save the Dates!

The first peak

Pull the Save the Date out

One more envelope!

And ta da!

Here is a picture of how my FMIL displayed her Save the Date. Isn’t that sweet?

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will try to put together a post with pictures of how we put them together, as well as what supplies were used if you are interested. Can you already tell where my cricut and cuttlebug came in handy?

In order to keep up with the huge list of blogs I read I use Google Reader.  All of the newest posts are delivered straight to my reader and it’s easy to keep track of them.  I hesitated to start Google Reader, but now I love it, other than it’s harder to comment all the time now.  I’ll often “star” my favorites for inspiration, tutorials or just useful information. As I went through my “starred items” the other day I began to notice a certain theme in some of the posts. Lately I’ve just been loving any sort of wooden detail. There is just this rustic charm to using wood slices, branches and signs throughout the wedding.

Here are some of the wooden details that have caught my attention lately.

It would be such a unique detail to use wood slice platters during your cocktail hour.

Ritzy Bee

The details of this cake are so sweet with the carefully placed branches and birdies sitting atop a simple tree stump.

Green Wedding Shoes

I love bird houses.  I think their charm could make for the perfect escort card table display.

Carrie Patterson

Never can get enough hand painted wooden signs leading the way.

Snippet and Ink

I never would have guessed something as simple as branches with ribbon could be so endearing when carried by a child.

Carrie Patterson

These escort cards are simply adorable.  Even better? There is a DIY tutorial!

Oh So Beautiful Paper DIY Instructions on {scissor variations}

Even having wood in the accents of a venue adds so much personality to a wedding.

Once Wed

I would normally not say wood is appetizing, this cake looks scrumptious!

Once Wed

This picture is from one the design blogs I read.  I could see this organic wooden table being perfect for the lounge at your wedding and then being reused as your coffee table at home.

Apartment Therapy

And of course the wooden theme carries beautiful into paper, whether it be a background or graphics of trees or branches.

Hammerpress via 100 Layer Cake

I thought this was an appropriate way to sum up my wood inspiration. Doesn’t Kathryn from Snippet and Ink always have something that just goes perfectly?

Snippet and Ink

What sort of details have been standing out to you lately? Do you ever pick up on a certain theme after awhile?

Anyone know where to get some good wood slices from?

Have you gone out to get your copy yet? I think I already mentioned how excited I was to get the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine over the break. I probably have way too many wedding magazines. However, I think that Martha Stewart has one of the better ones because it is filled with ideas, tips, diy suggestions and is not inundated with advertisements like many of the other ones.

Anyways I thought I’d pick out some bits and pieces from the different features that I really enjoyed and how I could potentially add my own touch to include them in my wedding.

I loved these pictures done with different color themes. The details and fun little items were so fun to pick out.

I was happy to see the feature on different things you can do with scrapbook paper. First of all I already have a bunch of it and second of all it’s an affordable way to add personal touches and use some DIY skills.

Table Numbers:

These were done by cutting the paper in half and then using a number stamp with gold ink. If I were to use this for my wedding I would maybe cut numbers out using my cricut and then frame the scrapbook paper to make it a little more sturdy.

Paper Flowers, Wrapped Vases and Runners:

I really like the idea of wrapping the vases and candle votive holders. For the runner I would favor using wrapping paper just for ease of use, but if you some paper you really want to use that would work.

Sweet Sensations:

How adorable are these little guys? The heart is so sweet. These would also be great for little shower favors to add some decor to the table.

Placemats:

I think this can give a pop of color to your table, especially if you don’t want to pay for fancy chargers or linens. I would choose a softer design so that it doesn’t over power the centerpieces. Another idea would be to paste the menu on this sheet maybe on a circle shaped paper under where the plate goes.

What were your favorite parts of the new Martha Stewart Weddings magazine? Later I’ll also share on some more ideas that gave me inspiration for our escort cards and floral details.

I have yet to decide how I will actually use my Cuttlebug for our wedding. However, I need to start using the Cuttlebug to get familiar with how it works and the different ways I can potentially use it. Now despite my love of craft/diy stuff I would not consider myself an expert. I don’t do those crazy scrapbooks nor have lots of experience in making paper products. And although I love Martha Stewart, I am far from getting anywhere close to her league. I am basically in the process of learning and experimenting while I create things along the way.

I recently went to Michael’s to use some coupons that were going to expire and take a advantage of their sales. I bought Fiskars 1/2 inch corner rounder that I had been wanting for awhile after reading about Mrs. Penguin’s DIY Essentials.

When buying paper I try to buy paper pads instead of individual sheets, which saves some money. I love the big paper pads because first of all you get a huge assortment and some of it coordinates making it easy to tie projects together. Also if you are patient they sometimes go on sale for 40% off at Michaels.

I wanted to share my first two creations using my Cuttlebug and Cricut. I made two simple cards.

The first card is for some friends of our that recently got married that we are taking to dinner soon to celebrate. Their initials are L & J. I used my “Cricut sampler” cartridge and “opposites attract” cartridge to cut out the lettering. I used a polka dot embossing folder with my Cuttlebug for the background of the lettering.

(The lighting isn’t the best so I apologize for the picture quality in advance)

The next card is just a straight forward Happy Birthday card. The “Birthday Girl” is from my “Storybook Cardridge” which is my favorite cartridge. I used this cartridge from my bridesmaids cards as well. For the embossing folder I used this fun swirly one I got at Michael’s.

I even did envelope liners and embossed the flaps for an extra little detail. To make the envelope liner I traced the envelop flap onto the back of the paper I was using for the liner and cut that out. I snipped each side a tiny bit so that it would easily slide into the envelope. The liner itself only goes half way down into the envelope and I used a glue stick to put in there. I also got to use my new Martha Stewart bone folder to make sure I had a smooth crease after adding the liner.

They aren’t the best, but not bad for my first 2 cards. I really like embossing the envelope flap, so that is something we could possibly do for our invitations.

You have probably figured out that I like craft stuff and DIY personal touches on everything. After Mr. Ducky saw how much I loved my Cricut and it’s creations, he decided to follow in a similar theme and get me a Cuttlebug for Christmas. “Cuttle what”? Yes, my friends it is another “craft insect” from Provo Craft to add to my collection and hopefully use for different details in the wedding. Do you think I’m a nerd yet?

The Cuttlebug embosses and does die cuts. Basically I can get different patterns and sizes of embossing folders to use on paper. I can also take specific dies to cut out specific shapes and unlike the Cricut I can get exact placement of where I want the cut to made.

An example of an embossing folder:

An example of a die cut:

The Cuttlebug was easy to figure out how to use, which is a good thing because I am not technically inclined. You use a spacer as the base and then in between two cutting pads you place the embossing folder with the paper inside.

Then after you have that set up, you place everything on the Cuttlebug and “wind” (my technical term) it through. It is not hard at all do do the “winding”. I was worried that I was going to have to press real hard or my arm would get tired if I was doing a bunch of embossing at once, but it is super smooth. You do have to press a little harder for the die cut though.

And after that you are done! Remove the paper from the embossing folder and you have a fancy design.

There are also smaller embossing folders like these 3 that give you smaller embossing images.

There are so many different kinds of embossing folder and die cuts, similar to the Cricut cartridges. I have several more generic embossing folders that can be used for any sort of event. However, there are more themed ones like thank-yous, babies, love etc. if you want to be specific. I like the you can buy individual die cuts if you want something really specific like a giraffe for example, where as with the cricut you would need to buy the whole cartridge which is much more expensive.

Now what how do I plan on using my cuttlebug for the wedding? Well to be honest I’m still figuring that out. I think I could use it on small details for our invitations and programs because it gives a more professional and polished look without me sending away for something like letterpress.

Do you have any ideas of how you would use a cuttlebug?

Up next is my first test projects with my new insect…

I’m a big fan of Laura Hooper’s calligraphy.  She is always being featured on my favorite blogs and I get excited to see all her beautiful creations.

While I don’t think we can afford a calligrapher, I can’t help but drool over her work.  I wonder if there is a font that is based on her calligraphy?  Anyone know of one?

I especially love her maps.  They are so fun, whimsical and personalized.  Wouldn’t you love to have one of these included in a wedding invitation?

Here is one for San Diego!

Photos from Etsy LHCalligraphy

Her work is incredible and you can see her exqisite attention to detail.  I wish I were that talented. If you want to see more of her work go check out the A Lucky Orchid blog.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to my cousin’s wedding. Having the wedding that Saturday ended up being perfect even though my cousin was unsure at first. Thanksgiving was at my house and it included all of my extended family, the groom’s immediate family and then members of the bridal party that had come into town early. It was so fun!! It gave everyone a chance to get to know one another and also kind of built the excitement and anticipation for Saturday. With the rehearsal the next day, it was like a weekend of celebration and events. So if you are considering this date for the future, I think it’s a great option. My only worry would be if you have a lot of far away guests that need to be out of town for Thanksgiving somewhere and then trying to travel back to the wedding that Saturday before returning home that Sunday. However, I think that the people you are close to will try their best to be there. And use the opportunity to have a giant Thanksgiving feast before where you can enjoy everyone’s company.

Alright, stepping off the soap box…I have some pictures to share with you. The wedding was at the Rancho Capistrano in San Juan Capistraon/Orange County. The Rancho Capistrano is a retreat center that is so beautiful. You can see it off the freeway, but can’t tell what it is and I had never been there. However, after this wedding I would highly recommend it. There are pretty ponds and lakes, spanish architecture and some beautiful courtyards.

A family friend of my Aunts did all of the stationary. It was super cute from the save the date to the programs. (This is the same lady that was the key leader in planning that amazing bridal shower I shared with you all awhile back!) All the guests had their own program that were laid out in alphabetical order with their table number for the reception attached. It was a good option for doing escort cards. My other cousin and I did the guest book and programs, and it was pretty easy to get everything handed out. It was a little awkward asking for the guests last name, but it was a nice way to greet everyone and then be able to really remind them to sign the guest book.

This is me being confused as to why Mark is snapping a bunch of “action” pictures as he puts it while I do the guest book and programs.

The ceremony was on a hill overlooking the a beautiful lake. The one downside was that it was on a bit of downward hill so you had to be kind of careful walking. (There are several ceremony site options if you are thinking about this location). The arch of flowers was gorgeous!

The bridesmaid dresses were a simple chocolate brown and looked good on everyone.

In this picture you can see a pretty good view of her bouquet that incorporated all the flowers her bridesmaid bouquets. All the bridesmaids had a bouquet made up of a different type of flower that was surrounded in green orchids.

Just after the ceremony and being announced as Mr and Mrs! Aren’t they a gorgeous couple??

This is Mark and I after the ceremony trying to get a good background for our picture. If you can’t tell, I’m literally bracing against him not to fall backwards in my heels!

This is a picture of my wonderful and amazing family! My mom and I are color coordinated…but not on purpose. haha

This is a picture of a table from the cocktail hour that has extra programs and the guest book laid out for anyone who did not get a chance to stop at the “station” before the ceremony. They also had the acoustic guitar playing in the background.

The centerpieces for the reception were really pretty. Bunches of flowers were arranged in simple vases for one type and another centerpiece had more of an arranged mixture. Don’t you like the bright colors?

The cake was really good. Each layer was a different flavor. I had chocolate cake with some sort of berry filling.

The favors were puzzle pieces talking about a donation to charity for autism awareness because my cousin is a speech interventionist that works with preschoolers who are autistic.

The reception was tented over a courtyard area with a fountain in the middle. Do you recognize those flowers? They were from the arch during the ceremony! Yeah for double use!

Chandeliers hung from the roof of the tent along with twinkle lights.

The wedding was not only so pretty, but it was also really fun. People were dancing all night long and genuinely enjoying themselves. One of my best memories of the night was of my 85 year-old grandparents dancing with all us grand-kids on the dance floor. Yes, I can say that I danced with my grandparents to Kanye West, Jackson 5, Beyonce and Madonna. I tried to take pictures, but they just did not come out so well.

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of the pictures from this real wedding. We had a wonderful time and I can only hope that people have as much fun at our wedding as we had at this wedding. On a side note, I inherited all those votive candles that you see on the tables for our wedding. Not sure where I will use them, but can’t say no to some money-saving hand-me-downs!

I thought I would show you some great things you could use for invitation DIY. I know that for many people it’ difficult because you don’t have access to designing your own graphics for invitations, can’t afford custom invites (like me) or just are short on time. Here are some letter press invitation sets from Target that are so beautiful and chic.

Wedding Invitation Kit with Ivory/Brown/Green Flowers

Green Flat-Panel Invitation Kit

Cherry Blossom Invitation Kit

Pink Peony Invitation Flat-Panel

Black Filigree Invitation Set

Jean M. Tea-Length Invitations (Check out the other color combos too)

Baroque Flat Panel Invitation Kit

Green Melon Invitations

Jean M. Piper Pocket Invitations

Now you may be like me and want that extra personal touch to everything so that it is really “yours” and has the extra “wow” element. Have you ever seen Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade show on the Food Network? She takes already prepared things and adds those extra ingredients to take a plain ready-made dish to something really delicious without too much cooking chaos on your part. Here are a few ideas do do some semi-diy invitations and take these simple invitation kits to another level.

• You can add embellishments like simple belly bands by using some decorative matching paper cut in strips to wrap around the invitation. Use a square punch out with your monogram or date to attach to the center of the belly band strip.



• Order cheap monogram stickers to put on that belly band or add them to the outer envelope.



• Even a simple bow attached to the top of the invitation could be an extra personal touch.



• Another great detail would be investing in a $10 corner rounder to give the invitations a more polished and custom look.



• If you want to maybe use different envelopes you could back the invitation in another color of paper to pull together your colors. For example the black filigree invitation would look great against some green paper to create that chic and modern color scheme of white and black damask with green details.



• Take one of the more basic invitations (like the Jean M. Piper designs above) and use a rubber stamp with some metallic ink to stamp out a floral design or flourish. You could even get really fancy and emboss some images!

Look at these fun stamp images from Stamin’ Up!

Photos above from Target, myOWNinvitations blog, Create for Less, Renaissance Writings, With This Ring Blog, Stampin Up

What do you think? Have you taken the “Semi-Homemade” approach to any of your wedding planning details?