Love Letters and Vino

This idea grabbed my attention as soon as I came across it. I mean, it deals with wine...I love wine...this project equals winner! What I am talking about is a wine box ceremony.

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The idea is that before the wedding you take the time to write your partner a letter, expressing your thoughts about the good qualities that you found in them, the reasons you fell in love with them, and your hopes and dreams for the future. You then place them in sealed envelopes. You pick out your favorite wine (preferably something that can last over the years), and two wine glasses to include in your box.

The Officiant will usually be the one to place the items in the box and then will seal it shut themselves, or with the help of you family. You can do it by lock and key or nails are the most preferred methods. Then you open it on a key Anniversary, like your 5th, 10th, 15th...really whenever you want. Couples also open them early if they are going through a particular rough time in their marriage, and it is used as a sort of saving grace.

Although I love the idea of opening letters down the road, we already have our unity candle and are happy using just that.

Then I thought, why not do this ourselves, in our home. And we could pick an Anniversary to open it on. We don't need a priest to do this. So that was my game plan. Lucky for me, Michael's was having a 50% off sale on the box I had been eyeballing for a while....are you seeing the trend with Michael's here? It could also be that it is less than a mile from my work and I drive by it to go home, but I digress.

Here is the lovely that I picked up for $12!

This will definitely fit a bottle of wine, two glasses, and letters. I plan on getting some styrofoam and satin to make a nice inside. The box has two latches and two snaps, I think that will be sufficient enough, we don't need anything fancy. And we can keep it somewhere out of the way, but in sight in the house. 

I was completely sold on the idea, until I came across another use for it...damn me and constantly looking at wedding websites! We would still be able to use the idea of opening it on an Anniversary, but this would involve more people. In particular, all the people that come to our rehearsal. We would give each guest a numbered card (1-50?, or some variation of that), they write a short letter to us on the card and seal it in an envelope. The envelopes go in the box, then on the Anniversary corresponding with the number you open the card and read it while drinking some awesome wine. 

Sold! What I am thinking, is handing out numbers 1-9, then every 5 years, so 15, 20, 25, 30, and on and on. We would still write each other letters, and open them on our 10 year Anniversary! Then of course every Anniversary you open it and drink the bottle of wine you buy another one to put in the box for next time. 

It would be a great way to read letters from our family and love ones over the years!

Is anyone else incorporating a wine box? Are you doing something different for your ceremony?

DIY Envelopes

I started making thank you cards for my bridal shower way back when. (I knew everything would come fast, and it is! And I wanted to have things I could accomplish early out of the way; I will post about them later) The problem was, I made them about 4" x 5", and I could not find any envelopes that were the right size.

So, I decided to make some myself. This week, my favorite craft store ever, is having a sale on books of scrapbook paper. I found a 180 page book that was on clearance for $8 and received 40% off on top of that! So it cost me around $5 for a $20 book. Then I just bought some double sided tape and was ready to go.

First I made a template based on my card size. The side flaps are 1", bottom half is 3", and the top flap is 2".

I traced the template on the back of the selected paper.

This is what it looks like cut out.

Then I scored and folded the edges so they were all crisp.

All folded and ready to be taped.

Put a strip of tape on each side to connect to the side flaps.

And you have an envelope!

Now just do it a million more times to get the number you need. If I made the 180 envelopes that I could with this pack, they would end up being less than 3 cents each. That is pretty awesome for something custom!

The Sound Of Bagpipes Revisited

In this post from a while ago here, I talked about how we decided we wanted a bagpiper for our ceremony and found one in the shape of a 10 year old boy, he will be 11 in a week.

Well, last night we had the pleasure of going over and listening to him play. It. Was. AWESOME! He is so good! We were both impressed and got goosebumps. He played a whole array of songs for us. Being that we didn't have a clue about songs or what we wanted, we let him do his thing. After about a half an hour of playing we picked the songs for the ceremony.

He will arrive about a half an hour before the ceremony and play outside while everyone is entering. The prelude music will be Scotland the Brave, Roman Tree, and Wings.

For when I walk down the aisle we narrowed it down to Blue Bells or the traditional Bridal Song. They were both good it was hard to decide. Listen for yourself.

"Blue Bells"

"Bridal Song"

I think in the end we will pick the Bridal Song, for a little bit of tradition, but will have him slow it down a little.

There will be two times during the ceremony that he will also play. Those songs will be Sleeping Tune, and our favorite, Marie's Wedding.

Then the recessional will be Bonnie Dundee and Steamboat.

We are so happy to present some of our heritage through our ceremony. I think the bagpipes will be a welcomed treat for everyone and will be something people have not experienced that often.

Are you straying away from an organ for a church wedding?

Poprawiny

Everyone on Kevin's side has always followed the Polish tradition of Poprawiny. Pronounced "Po-prah-'vee-nyh." It is held on the day after the wedding. This is a follow-up celebration and a way to use up the food and drink left over from the wedding. Traditionally, it is held at the home of the Bride's parents, but we will be having it at Kevin's parents' house. Basically, the bride and groom should attend this event and put off the honeymoon as a way of saying " family and friends are more important, our honeymoon can wait."


So yes, we will not be leaving for our honeymoon until the middle of the week after the wedding. But that will give us some time to decompress after the wedding craziness. Plus, half of our guest list is out of towners, and we really want to be able to spend more than the 10 mins we will spend seeing them at the wedding.


With these parties being so low key, it will be fun to just kick back in some flip flops and a beer and reflect on our wedding day and how it flew by!


Is anyone else incorporating any traditions into your day?

Dolling Up The Flower Girl

In my last post, I talked about getting my wedding day jewelry. Well, what i am also excited about was getting my flower girl her jewelry as well!

Just to show you, this is my cute as a button flower girl!

She is going to be 7 when the wedding rolls around, and I wanted her to feel like a mini princess.

At the Stella & Dot party, they had children's jewelry as well. At first, I was looking for purple jewelry (since that is our main color), but all they had was pink. And then I saw this!

Mini Soiree Bracelet
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What little girl does not like pearls? And....there is a matching necklace!

Mini Soiree Necklace
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So I snatched them up as quick as I could! I am so excited to give them to her! And it will be something that she will have for a while. They also come in these cute tins!

May I also mention, that I loved the bracelet so much that I bought one for myself, adult size in black!

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Is anyone else excited to give their flower girl a specific something?

Buying The Sparkles

Now, I was contemplating my wedding jewelry for a long time. I have an overload of book marked pages of websites and sellers of all different bracelets and earrings, but just couldn't commit to anything, for fear I would find something better right after.

I knew that I needed big fashion pieces, for both my bracelet and earrings. The earrings needed to be long...like super long, a couple of inches would be great. I plan on having my hair up and since my dress has three crystal parts on the entire dress, I needed to be blinged out!

He is obviously very blinged out!
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My cousin had a Stella & Dot party in the beginning of the year. At this point I had scoured websites, stores, even custom jewelry makers, and had not found a bracelet I was in love with, I didn't think I would honestly find anything at this party either. I had two criteria 1) I did not want a stretch bracelet 2) It needed to have a clasp or a hinge, I didn't want something that slid on.

So I went to the party and there it was...the bracelet I had been looking for! Sitting there, shinning in all it's beauty. It had a clasp, it had a vintage feel to it (which I am all about), it had the sparkles, and it wasn't the price of my first born child!

Heirloom Deco Bracelet
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It was $89, but I got it cheaper because I spent over $100 at the party. And here it is on...ignore the crappy Blackberry quality picture.

I love it! And found it in a place I never thought I would. Now that I had the bracelet it made my earring purchase even harder. I searched through the hoards of bookmarked web pages. Everything was either too expensive, or not long enough. It was a vicious circle. I then came across this bookmarked page that I had casually overlooked in my frenzied search. This pair of earrings seemed perfect, but I hate not being able to see jewelry in person and was hesitant to buy.

A couple of weeks went by, I thought "why not just buy them?!" And while I was still in that blissful state of when you just have money and want to buy everything (you all know what I am talking about), I hit the purchase button. These are the beauties that I purchased.

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Again, they had a vintage look, and were blinged out. When they came, I was completely happy with the purchase. Not only did they ship fast, but they were even prettier in person, and did I mention they were only $45? Again, sorry for phone pictures, but I am lazy!

They are around 3 inches, and I can't wait to wear them! Together the bracelet and earrings go perfect together. And I'm glad I wasn't completely compulsive and waited awhile.

Did it take anyone else a long time to pick their wedding jewelry?

Where To Moon Part 3?

So now, we crossed off a cruise, Disney, Bora Bora, and St. Lucia. Just when I was about to give up and put our honeymoon on the back burner, I came across the perfect place.....drum roll please!

It was all inclusive, warm weather located, beach adjacent, lots of food choices, and in our budget.....we chose.....Excellence Riviera Cancun in lovely Riviera Maya, Mexico!

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I die everytime I look at the pictures! Instead of talking about it, let me show you a photo montage!

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We seriously have not heard one bad review about the resort, it seems everyone raves about it. And because they were having such an awesome sale when we booked we were able to upgrade to a room that we normally wouldn't be able to afford. And being an adult only resort makes it even better!

We were able to get an Excellence junior swim up suite, and since we upgraded to the Excellence room, not only will we have pool access right outside our door, we will also get an ocean view! Along with perks like, a private lounge, free internet access, private beach access, daily fruit in our room, and a lot of other perks! Plus, since we are going a couple days after our actual wedding we get other awesome deals like, champagne upon arrival, dinner on the beach, free spa treatment, breakfast in bed, and a special turn down service.

We are more than ecstatic to get away and just relax! Has anyone been to an Excellence Resort? Where are you going on your honeymoon?

Where To Moon Part 2?

So, when I left you, me had nixed a cruise, Disney, and Bora Bora off our potential honeymoon list.

Then, one of Kevin's co-workers recommended Sandals Resorts to us. They go every year and just rave about it. So Kev came home with this snazzy brochure and we poured over it for hours on end looking at all the destinations, food, and accommodations. We were hooked. The place we were hooked on was St. Lucia.

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I became obsessed with the Rondovals, and needed to stay in one!

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They had some sweet sales going on and we were sure we could swing it. Then, we went to a family party. We were talking to everyone about where we were pretty sure we were going to moon. His cousin then tells us that two couples she knows went to the exact resort we wanted to go to. *I thought, awesome! Justification that our place rocks!* 

But no....both these couples wished they hadn't gone. The one couple hated the food, and said that everywhere was just dirty. For the price you are paying it was not what they had hoped for. They actually were planning on leaving early if they didn't have to pay and arm and a leg to change flights.

The second couple, also thought the food was below par, and agreed with lowered expectations. They said the location was beautiful but the resort was something left to be desired. 

Sad panda!
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The last thing we want to worry about on our honeymoon (besides nothing!) is the resort itself! So sadly, St. Lucia was also gone!

We kind of stopped looking into Sandals resorts after that, since no other location was that appealing to us...we really were set on St. Lucia. I tried searching for non-Sandals resorts in St. Lucia as well, but the prices were just insane. And we would be paying over a grand each for flights! So that's when St. Lucia was really wiped from the list. 

Stayed tuned for Part 3...I swear (just like the flowers) this story has a happy ending as well!

Barber Straws Are Here!

These puppies came ridiculously fast! I tore through the box and they were in pretty packaging...I would totally recommend ordering from Garnish!

They are perfect, and exactly what I have been dreaming about!

I only ordered 100, even though we are looking at a bigger guest list than that. My rationality is that, we are having 4 signature drinks. We can use these straws for which ever one is in a tall glass. That way, it will give it even more of a personality. 

I kind of want to use one now just for kicks!

Has anyone else wanted or ordered barber straws?

Friday Funday

Okay, everyone, this snow needs to stop! I'm tired of it, spring needs to be bypassed and it needs to go right into summer, for reals. So here is a little pick me up that is guaranteed to have everyone laughing, and in a little bit of a better mood. Enjoy everyone.