Referrals and DIY

I did a lot of DIY for the wedding, and I cam across a lot of great people who helped along the way. I really want to give these people credit for the amazing things they did for you me. And if you are a soon-to-be-bride looking for certain things I hope this helps.

(please keep in mind these are all my own opinion, I get nothing in return for these "reviews")

For most of the people/shops I didnt find on etsy they will be in south Fla region. 

Vendors  (South Fla based ones first):

1. The officiant: Mr. Lowell Gannon, Weddings by Lowell Lowell did an amazing job with our wedding ceremony. It was exactly how we wanted it. We had many guest compliment on how warm, welcoming, professional and overall great he was. He was very efficient in getting back to me with questions or concerns. He really put us at an ease on the wedding day. I would highly recommend him and his services. 

You can tell he wants to make your day special and when he is there, he is just with the 2 of you! He is truly an amazing wonderful person!! (My review from theknot.com) 

2. The wedding planners: Liz & Lex events It's taken me a while to write this review for Liz & Lex, because I want it to be perfect and do them the justice they deserve.

They were the BEST choice I made in the wedding planning process.

I hired them for "day of planners" but let me tell you they were there way more than just the day of.

I am a "in control" kind of person and they keep me updated on everything going on and everything I should be doing!

They helped with vendors that I was drawing blanks on, and they only keep the BEST on file. Chanda was my main point of contact and was great at getting back to me within the day. There is not enough room on this review to highlight everything they have done for me. I am so grateful I cam across them here on the knot. I was completely at ease with them from the first phone call!! Best decision I ever made!!!

The wedding day was a total breeze only because for once I didn't have (or want) the control, and I knew the control was in fully capable hands that I trusted. (My review from theknot.com)

3. Birdy's Bridal: She was the sweetest person ever! We bought my mom's dress from a department store. My mom is petite so we needed this dress shortened. We went to a few dry cleaning places to ask them, and they were rude, over priced, and no regard to a time schedule. Birdy was so kind, a fast worker and did a wonderful job!! We ended up giving her a call pretty late in the game and she had no problem! She was also very reasonably priced. My mom looked amazing in her dress! 

4. Rockin' Roy DJ: This is one that Liz & Lex helped me find. He was great! Unlike the other DJ companies I came across (especially at those bridal shows), he owned his own company. He was the sole DJ. So who you spoke with was who you got. His personality was amazing fun and outgoing! He's a very vivacious man, with a passion for music and his job. We had a tiny snafu at the wedding where he played too many dance songs in a row, but I spoke to him and he slowly faded one out into a slower song and problem solved. He comes and sets up his own up lights.

5. McCardell Photography: They are not located in South Fla. They are based in Raleigh NC. If you live in that area, I would suggest booking them ASAP for your wedding. I LOVE THEM!!! Best pictures of all time.

Let's talk about the vendors and shops I found on etsy:

1. Bride's Boutik: This was my favorite vendor to have the pleasure of working with on etsy. I ordered a flower bow pin for my hair. I had wanted one from the start of wedding planning for the reception. I knew my hair was going to go up into a pony tail during the reception, but I still wanted it to look cute. I started pricing our hair pins at bridal shops and they were crazy expensive. Finally I was going to order off a whole sale site or amazon, until I came across her etsy shop. Her stuff is beautifully made and fantastic! After some research I also decided I wanted to incorporate my mom's dress into the bow. We took some material off her dress and veil and sent it over. She was so quick, I had my flower bow within a week. She did my mom's dress the best justice ever with this bow and it was great to have that as part of my day. This piece of wedding day attire was the most special and almost brought me to tears when I received it. 

2. Studio Ardent: I found this shop via Pintrest. I knew I wanted to do something fun and different for the boys' boutonnieres. She was great to work with, I contacted her very early on to inquiring about the product. She was so nice and answered all my questions. I checked in with her when she advised and placed my order. They are truly a one of kind boutonniere and great for your guy who LOVES beer. Everyone at the wedding was commenting how neat they were, and they have lasted a lot longer than I expected. This along with my hair bow are going in a shadow box. 

3. Hard Ink Calligraphy: One my friends planning her wedding in June had a stamp made with their name for their invites. It turned out phenomenal, and I had to have one. I saw this shop and immediately contacted her. She was amazing and was willing to work in my tight schedule (although we ended up not needing it). We used this stamp a lot more than I ever expected for the wedding. We used this for the candy bar bags, on the "Thank you" to our guest and for many card mailings. 

I plan on using this stamp well into the future. 

Now for some of the DIY:

The biggest DIY project was the lantern centerpieces. Let me just take a moment to say, if the first way you plan something doesn't work move on to the next. And be open to other people's opinion. I am a stubborn and hard headed person, I wanted it all to be the way I wanted. However later in the process I did not care! My original idea for the lanterns were to trace the numbers on them, go over the trace line with gold puff paint, let that dry, then go in with gold paint and paint the inside of the number, then glitter-fy the numbers. Do you know how long that would have taken?!??? FOREVER! 

While mom and I were at Michael's craft store we found gold scrapbook paper and some number stencils and ended up cutting the numbers out of that paper and gluing them one. They turned out 100 times better than the original  idea and took us 1/4 of the time. 

This is the final of the centerpieces. So much cleaner looking. See the little yellow ones, Josh and my dad made the bases for the 2 of them and we glued them on to keep the lanterns sitting straight. 

Next, I wanted giant yellow lantern colums to "frame" us at the ceremnony. This is one where I threw a fit because I wanted it to go my way and my way only. Low and behold Josh's way was easier and less trouble. 

This is the best picture I could find of these. They were 4- 16" lanterns stacked on one another. Josh and my dad made a stand for 4- 1" PVC poles in which the lantern wire wedged in between. We painted the PVC pipes with yellow spray paint so the minor amount that showed through would blend in. My mom and I also gold-ified the bases with scrapbook paper, like basically wrapping a present. Again my original idea was to get a 4" PVC pipe and cut it right down the middle- yea OK!

We did a candy bar last minute. For the bags we went with plain old brown paper bags (the cheapest option also). We got yellow circle stamps at Party City and this is where my stamp came in handy. I stamped our names on each label, then stuck the labels to the bag. They were great. We also cut the bags down a little with the fancy design scissors. 

We also got a gold glitter gift bag from Michael's and places a sign on it for people to take one and fill. 

For the seating chart I did not want those silly little folded cards. UGH! Do something original people. I wanted to have a board with everyone's name. Originally I wanted it by table #, but was told that would confuse people and take them longer to find their name. So we did it alphabetically by first name. 

Then I wanted to do it on a black board in gold writing. The only way to do that other than xatco-knifing the names by hand was with a cricut machine. I failed to realize that the machine would cut out letter-by-letter, even in cursive. CRAP! So while wandering Michael's again I grabbed some gold wrapping paper, just in case. We took a white foam board covered it with the wrapping paper and my dad had these printable transparencies laying around. We printed (in my favorite font ever, Thanks Laurie!!!) in black on these transparencies and glue dotted them to the board. (PS: glue dots, one of the best inventions ever!!!)

It was perfect!!! And I love the little saying I found on Pintrest.

Now if you don't want to DIY this there are options, etsy has a few shops that will do this for you, but for a price. And Staples or Office Depot will do "engineer" prints but really only in black and white but at a cheaper price. 

I think wanted tassel garland to go down every row on the aisle side at the ceremony. This looked like an easy task, no problem. HA was I wrong! Again they sell these on etsy for a pretty penny, and now I know why! Finally I conceded to just doing 4 in total, 2 on each side to symbolize the family rows. And it looked fantastic!!! 

The next big DIY was the programs. I found a few designs I liked on Pintrest. When it finally came time to get them done I selected this design. 

I did these in Microsoft Word. I found them via this site: The McBailys, where she actually uploaded the file that you can edit (I don't know how to do that) She was great for some DIY stuff, She did her own menus and other things. I got them printed at First Impression Printing They are fantastic! I gave them the file,and within a few days they were ready and perfect! 

I also had the menus and "thank you" notes printed with them. 

The space under the "we love you!" is where our Katie & Josh stamp went

These were also done in Microsoft word, but I have no idea how to upload the file.

I seriously can not thank my mom enough for all her help. If it was not for her none of my vision would have been possible. She was by my side for every cockamamie idea I came up with. I know I was not the best person to deal with at times, but we got through it and it was amazing and more than I could have even dreamed of. 

Also Josh was an amazing help, he was there with mom and I when we were doing last minute crafts. 

And Stephanie C. was my saving grace angel coming down from CT a week before the wedding and helping with all the lose end projects that needed to be finished. She was there all day if I needed her. She is crazy organized like me and made labels for all the boxes and made sure everything was perfect for the day and I wouldn't have to worry about anything.