Hello!

Welcome to 'One year to go...'! This is my story of our trip up the aisle starting with all the planning and a year to go!

Thursday 24 March 2011

Cutting the cost but not the quality...

As I mentioned in previous posts, with H2B about to finish his final year of uni, we are getting married on a budget. And I think even if he was in full time work I still wouldn't want to be spending much more than we are on the Big Day. We would both much rather put that sort of money towards a house deposit.

So today's post is about stationary on a budget or rather making your own stationary. We're quite lucky in that I've always been 'arty farty' and 'creative' all through school and it's a hobby I've continued with by making cards & scrapbooking so I really am in my element at the moment with designing and creating our very own wedding stationary!! : )

I'm going to share with you exactly how much we've spent on every aspect of our wedding stationary and the suppliers we've used. And I'm going to treat you all to a sneaky peak at what I've created so far to show you just how much you can do with a relatively small amount of money!


The Costs...
Star Charms x 800                              £6.18
Silver/black ribbon x 30m                  £2.99
Black 5mm 0rganza ribbon x 60m     £2.58
Silver 25mm ribbon x 10m                 £2.38
Large star charms x 75                      £1.99
All of our ribbons & charms came from ebay - some suppliers in the UK and some from China. Admittedly they take a little bit longer to arrive from China but the money you save is worth the wait!

Black A4 card x 200                           £19.00
Silver A4 pearl paper x 100               £7.00
White card x 100                                FREE!
Pearl A4 paper for inserts                £27.81
Again, our black card & silver came from UK suppliers on ebay, the pearl paper for our inserts came from craft creations and the white A4 card came from H2B's mum (a retired teacher who was clearing out her cupboards at school ; ) handy!)

Order of Service blanks x 50            £11.60
Menu blanks x 15                              £2.00
Thank You blanks x 50                     £5.60
Place card blanks x 50                      £3.60
Invite blanks x 70                              £23.01
Thank You envelopes                        £3.20
Invite envelopes                                £5.90
Wording/star peel offs                      £15.61
All of the above came from Craft Creations and included all the little silver star stickers, the 'Order of Service', 'Wedding Invitation', 'Evening Invitation', 'Menu', 'Save the Date' and 'Thank You' wording stickers.

Perhaps the biggest 'extravagance' were the car photos, we needed LOTS and these cost us £40.00 in total. The 'Save the Date' lollipops came from a sweet shop on ebay and cost £6.99 for 50.

All in, our wedding stationary has cost us £187.44!

And this is what I've designed and created (with a bit of help from the other half!)...






My other half is car mad (currently finishing his degree in Motorsport Engineering) so it only seemed appropriate to use the car theme for our stationary. These are the only range of cards etc I've made that I've actually really loved! What do you think?

I've also made a lot of the decorations for our reception too; the bunting is to go along the front of the top table, our initials are to go on the top table...










We've carried our colour theme of black, white & silver stars right through our stationary & decorations and also continued the car theme through to our tables.

Our tables have all been named after retro film cars...I agreed as long as I could have 'Herbie' - I love old VW's! The table planner isn't finished yet...waiting for a frame to arrive and want to add some more bits to it - will post another pic once it's complete.

So there you have it, our range of 'budget' stationary! Making your own really is easy and doesn't have to cost a fortune. And, perhaps the best bit of all, if you do it together it's actually good fun!

Would love to hear any comments you have! xx

Saturday 19 March 2011

DIY Flowergirl Jewellery...

So...

I'd found and bought the perfect flowergirl dress with co-ordinating jacket, wings and wand, all I needed now was some jewellery.

In my head I had a clear idea of what I was looking for (story of my life lol) and I started looking before last Christmas thinking that Monsoon etc would stock something with stars on for kids. My hunt has continued until now...

After seeing a few of my tweeting friends have a go at making their  own jewellery I thought I'd do the same. I'm really pleased with the results and below you can see exactly how easy it was to make with my tutorial...

Flowergirl matching bracelet & necklace...
I first selected all of my supplies from a great haberdashery section in our local Fred Winter's - the little star beads came from ebay - total cost of supplies was just under £6.
I started by cutting a length of thread, I made sure this was twice as long as I actually needed so I had a bit to play with if it went wrong!! I then secured one half of the clasp to an end (I did this just by knotting so I apologise to the proper jewellery creators as this probably isn't the right way of doing it lol)



I then started to add my beads. I originally intended to go pearl, star, pearl, star alternately but it looked too much so simply unthreaded them and started again so it ended up looking like this...


I continued threading until reaching the desired length...


I then secured the last bead and attached the other half of the clasp. I then threaded the stray ends back through the beads to neaten off and also to add a bit more security to it. The finished article looks like this...


I then made a matching necklace in exactly the same way just making the length longer...


I now have a cute matching bracelet and necklace in exactly the design I wanted for my flowergirl!


I know it's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I'm quite proud of my first go and amazed at how easy it was to do. I also had help from this little man...
 This is Douglas...he likes to be where there's something happening...cat help is optional ; )
I'd love to know what you all think, good or bad so please feel free to leave a comment below.

xx





Wednesday 16 March 2011

Tutu's fit for a princess...

I mentioned in an earlier post my quest to find the perfect flowergirl dress and now I'd like to introduce you all to the wonderfully talented lady behind that very dress...

From first seeing Miracle on 34th Street one Christmas years ago I have dreamt of getting married at Christmas and having a flowergirl dressed as a little fairy. My other half made the first bit of my dream come true by proposing last June and then booking our wedding for this December coming! The second part of my dream was made true by Michelle at Isobella's Tutu...

Michelle has very kindly allowed me to dedicate a post to her and her small business, her facebook page can be found here Isobella's Tutu 


I asked Michelle a few questions...how did Isobella's come about, what her inspirations are and what she enjoys most about her work?

"Well I've always been crafty ;0) I had a conversation with my friend about wanting to find something I could do at home whilst looking after my 3 children. She said that her daughter Gabriella wanted to wear an orange tutu for Halloween but my friend couldn't find a well made one anywhere. I said I'll have a go at making one. It came out really well so I made my friend one too. We thought of a name for my page Isobel(my daughter) ella (from Gabriella's name) and Isobella's Tutu was born. You can see the 1st tutus in the fan album. fairy photos ; )
I love flowers and fairies and pretty things so I guess my inspiration comes from there. Plus I love my customers to take part in creating something special for their fairy so actively encourage their suggestions.
I love seeing pictures of my Fairy tutu owners plus making and selling pretty things whilst still being able to look after my children at home. Plus making brides dreams come true ;0)"


Well, she's certainly made my and my flowergirl's dreams come true! If you'd like a sneaky peak at the beautiful tutu dress Michelle has created for me here you are...

What I've loved about working with Michelle is the level of detail she went into about what I wanted right down to the width of the ribbon around the waistband!
All the way through the design & creating process Michelle kept me regularly updated with comments and pictures which only added to the excitement! The finished creation arrived in a big box beautifully wrapped in tissue & ribbon with little silver charms...I was like a kid at Christmas opening it! : )

If you, like me, are looking for a beautiful fairy flowergirl dress then I can highly recommend Isobella's Tutu, both the service & quality are fantastic! I admit, I splashed out a bit more than I intended to get what I wanted but if you're on a tighter budget the tutu skirts are as adorable worn with a little top especially for a Summer wedding!

For a chance to meet with Michelle & chat about your design ideas pop along to this event in Bristol...
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Woman-South-West/104753406262435
It's going to be fantastic.
Michelle also has a sister page of Craftilicious which features five of her very talented friends...with products perfect for wedding thank you gifts!
http://www.facebook.com/craftilicious

I really cannot thank Michelle enough for the wonderful dress she has created for me...I keep sneaking a peak in the box! Hurry up December I want to get married!! : )

Michelle, thank you for helping to create my dream wedding! xx