how many is too many?

When my future hubs and I started thinking about who we would like to stand up with us when we take our vows we had many names come to mind. Childhood friends, college roommates, siblings, people we have been in their weddings.. the list really was quiet extensive but filled with people we love.

We decided to have eight attendees on each side. Yes, I know this is a lot but we are pulling the It's Our Day Card and are going against the convention of having 4-5 attendees.

We are breaking many traditions. Bridesmaids are not just for girls anymore. I have two bridesmen and my groom with have a groomslady as well. And no, they aren't batting for the other team as a friend of mine says, but if so, we would love them all the same.

I mean, really? Who set the appropriate number of how many people you can have to stand beside you or that a bride has to have only girlfriends by her side?

bridespeople invites.

I love the idea of formally inviting the closest people in your life to be a part of your special day. After all, they will be going above and beyond [hopefully] to make your day great so why should they not get the royal treatment themselves? My ladies and gent loved these plus they made clear lines of communication on their specific roles like Maid of Honor, Bridesmaid, etc.

The invites did take a bit of time but well worth it! My Bridesmaids/man literally giggled like grade school girls when they opened them and it made my heart melt.

Materials Needed:

• Scizzors
• Pencil
• Paper for the skin tone (Enough for the bodies and to make separate heads)
• Paper for hair (I picked these to match myself and the invitees)
• Paper for the dresses (white Bride and Bridesmaids) Tip: I encourage you to make these slightly textured to add dimension to your invites
• Paper for a stencil
• Envelopes
• Tape measure
• scrap booking double sided tape
• a computer or great penmanship to write out the formal invitation

Step 1-
Pick out your envelopes. This will dictate the size of your invitation and little people. I went with a standard 4 3/4x6 in case I mailed the invites instead of personal delivery (standard shipping costs would apply at this size). Then I went through, several times, our local craft store for the right skin tone color paper, dresses, and hair colors.

Step 2-
Using your envelope size as guidance sketch and cut out your stencil. Make sure you leave enough room for the cutout to fit into the envelope once you add hair. I'm a sucker for big, voluminousness  hair so I had to calculate accordingly.

Step 3-
Trace and cut out your "bodies" at first I was having the face contacted on the same paper, but the extra line of the jaw really added a lot, so what I would have done from the start but I had to go back and do is just make a long neck to attach the head instead of taking the time to cut out a circular head on these. This step took the longest. Be prepared.

Step 4-
Using your bodies stencil make your dress stencil and cut these out. Once completed you can attached these to the bodies, I used scrap booking double sided tape.

Step 5-
Make a face stencil, cut these out and attach them.

Step 6-
Using the face stencil make hair stencils, cut them out and attach. You could do just one style for each Bridesmaid, but making them look like the ladies was a lot of fun!

Step 7-
Due to an unfortunate pencil eraser incident on one of the bridesmaid dresses I added a heart to the corner to cover it up. Of course I ended up likely it and added it to all of the cut outs. I also cutout a hair piece for myself, it's the details that make things great!

Step 8-
I made up the actually invite that read: "It's hard to believe in just a little while, [groom's name] and I will be walking down the aisle. Nothing will give me more joy and pride than to have you there by my side." Printed them from my own printer and began assembling the nearly, almost completed project!

Step 9-
To hold the invite together I used a simple silk ribbon I had left over from another project. Then placed the invites in the envelope and creatively wrote their names on the outside.

Step 10- The Delivery!
For some of the ladies, I left the invites places around their house I knew they would find quickly (Like their bathroom door, another on their bedroom pillow) those I had difficulty hiding, I hand delivered.


Inspiration---
http://www.projectwedding.com/wedding-ideas/diy-wedding-challenge-2010-ajfisher-s-will-you-be-my-bridesmaid-cards

http://www.oncewed.com/16446/wedding-blog/diy-wedding/diy-bridesmaids-cards/

colors.colours.and more colors.

Need inspiration on your wedding colors? 

This is the one website I would check out. 

It's fantastic and has the most colors and combos that I've seen yet.

www.theperfectpalette.com

 Here is our color palette, plus a little more greens!

Things To Do When You Get Engaged

A great article from BrideFinds.com

Things To Do When You Get Engaged

I wholeheartedly agree with this list, especially on signing up for Pinterest.com It has made my life so much easier (and hours of time consumed). My friends describe Pinterest as female porn. You'll see why.

We wanted a barn. We got a train station.

By living in the most Southeastern portion of Michigan and having the Good, not Great, Lake Erie next to us, our dreams of a rustic barn wedding were soon squashed. We researched and researched and researched some more but could not find a venue within an hour and a half of us for a wedding of 200 people is not possible.

This lead to many cranky conversation and lots of frustration, especially every time someone would ask if we set a date yet or if we were even looking. We would try to nicely respond with no, we were unable to because we could not find location we even fairly liked to see when they had dates available… and we were not settling for a boxed hall reception. (Nothing against them, it’s just not our style).

If you found yourself in the same predicament here is one venue in the Ann Arbor area. However, we did visit and like the barn but there would be no possible way to fit the 220 without a dance floor, 180 with, that their website indicates. A 100 people would be pushing it. 

Cobblestone Farm Rentals 

If you are willing to travel to the West coast of Michigan, this is my number one choice:

The Blue Dress Barn 

Don’t let the ugly webpage fool you.

I have also been to a Mill Creek Barn wedding on the West coast and loved it as well, it is a little more prairie-ish but has a beautiful organic feel to it. 

After falling in love with those barns our closest option was a cement floor bright red, freshly painted barn over an hour south of us. Not making the cut. My future groom and I turned back to researching the Toledo area for something different and we came across http://www.gladieux-catering.com/venues.html and they had a list of places where they organize events and weddings.

We struck gold. Not only did we like several of the venues listed but we fell in love with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza, in Toledo, OH. The historic train station has been newly renovated and hosts all types of parties from corporate events to wedding receptions. So back to researching yet again but this time with a purpose to read reviews on this venue and to find pictures. We came across the Toledo, OH Knot Forum to find these pictures (click on the links in the second post)

Love. Love. Love it. And we can still have our vintage wedding. No, not in a barn. But in an old train station.