DIY Detail: Programs

I had a vision when it came to our programs. I knew I wanted a booklet style tied with ribbon, so it was just a matter of coming up with the template from there. I honestly had nothing to do with that part of it - My wonderful groom spent a whole evening designing our program inserts while I worked on other projects. 

We had our family members who had been offering to help with wedding stuff over about a week and a half before the wedding. We ordered pizza for everyone and then got down to business. We sat around the table and made an assembly line of cutting, folding, rounding corners, punching holes, threading/tying ribbon, and stamping the cover. We seriously could not have done it without all of the help. (At least at that point in wedding planning - if you start a month earlier, it would be do-able but not very fun.) Even with 8 of us, it took us a good 3-4 hours to make 175 of them.

But, even with that being said, I'd do it all again because I absolutely LOVED them. They were exactly what I'd envisioned (except maybe for the cover design, but I was still happy with it) and our guests must have liked them too because we only had about 10 left!

Ok, enough talk. Here they are!

Even before I was engaged I knew I wanted to include little notes to each member of our bridal party. All of them are incredibly important to us and as a guest, I always love reading personal touches like that in the program. David wrote his notes first, and I cried as he read every single one. They were so heartfelt and sweet!

I also knew I wanted to include the full text to "Union," the reading we had my aunt/godmother read. Every single line of it is SO true for us and for our relationship, I didn't want our guests to miss any of it. 

I put them all in a bin I'd bought several months before specifically for our programs (ha, at least I think ahead!) and admired our handiwork. Love. Them.

Were your programs a labor of love?

DIY Detail: OOT Bags

Whew, I don't know about you, but I'm excited to be (basically) done with vendor reviews! They're helpful, but they're so boring. I said I wanted to fill you all in on the projects that were finished in the week or so leading up to the wedding since I definitely didn't get much blogging in. 

We only had about 12 out of town bags to make, which made things much easier. I'd gone back and forth for weeks about what I wanted to put in them, but I just couldn't think of anything that was really representative of us or our hometown. My mom and I just ended up choosing some random snacks as we wandered through Sam's one day. 

We included a schedule for the weekend, directions from the hotel to the church, the church to the reception, and the reception back to the hotel, and, of course, a door hanger in each bag.

(If you're interested in your own door hangers, check out my etsy shop!)

We also included a water bottle in each one, with labels from here, personalized obviously.

We also included a Wichita Guide that had all kinds of restaurant and activity recommendations since most of our family got into town on Friday. We chose Chex Mix and Trail Mix as our snacks since they're not overly sugary and kids and adults both usually like them.

But we had to include one of our favorite snacks too! Each bag had at least one huge cookie from our favorite bakery in town. Soo yummy!

And that was it! I put some damask tissue paper on top and they were ready to go. Thankfully I have a wonderful SIL who was willing to drop them off for me, because it didn't quite happen on Friday with all of the 'excitement' going on with decorating.

I'm not sure of the exact cost, but I know they weren't more than $5/bag which was totally worth it to me. I think they're such a nice touch and they really show your out of town guests that you appreciate the effort they made to come. They really don't take much time to throw together, and they make a big impact!

Did you do OOT bags? How did you decide what to fill them with?

Weekend Recap

We had a lazy 4th of July, but it was nice! It rained most of the weekend so unfortunately we spent most of our time inside, but we saw both sides of the family and got to enjoy each other's company for a few days. We got quite a bit done on the house as well, so that was a benefit of not being very busy. I can't wait to share our house with you guys - It's getting closer to feeling like home! :)

We took a family picture, but of course it was after church and lunch and being in and out of the rain. My hair is looking fabulous, but you've gotta love our red, white, and blue!

Paisley has gotten so big! And she has frizzy hair just like her momma.

I made two of my favorite recipes over the weekend and have to share them with you! I'm not usually very big on complicated recipes, so these are perfect, especially for taking to a party or get together. I make my fruit pizza every year, but this year I tried it with brownie as the crust (for David's family) and I made the original for my family. I didn't take pictures of them when they were still pretty, but this is similar to what it looks like:

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I'm lazy and no one in either of our families particularly likes the pieces with only blueberries, so I scatter them both all over the fruit pizza. Here's what mine looked like at the end of the night:

It's so easy and SO good, either with brownie or sugar cookie crust! Here's the recipe:

I also made my faaavorite dip, a recipe I got from fabulous BM S! It's also super easy and was a huge hit with David's family yesterday. It literally takes all of about 5 minutes to throw together.

I didn't take any pictures yesterday, but we spent all afternoon with David's mom and siblings and played a bunch of games. I love hanging out with his older brother and his wife - I introduced her to Young House Love and we talked about house stuff. They celebrate their first wedding anniversary on Sunday! Love you both and wish a lifetime of happiness!

I've got lots of DIY details to share with you this week, so you have something more exciting than vendor reviews to look forward to! Hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing, and fun weekend!

Happy 4th of July!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July today! And I wanted to take a minute to remember how blessed we are to live in this country and to have thousands of individuals fight to defend our freedom. I'm so proud to be an American!

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Even though David and I have celebrated 4th of July together for several years, it will be fun to celebrate our first one as a married couple! We have a 'tradition' but it's not happening this year, and I'm really disappointed. We've always celebrated the same way (with his family) so it'll be really different. I know it'll be wonderful regardless of how we celebrate this year, though - I'm celebrating with my husband! And because I love doing this (and you guys don't seem to mind!) here's a look back:

 

2006

2007

2008

2009

We'll see what this year's picture looks like! Have a wonderful holiday weekend, everyone!

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Vendor Review - Tuxes: Gentry Ltd.

We decided to use Gentry for the guys' tuxes after seeing them at a bridal fair (and because one of David's friends works there). They were offering a deal for everything (including shoes) for $64 each and a free groom's tux with the purchase of 6 or more rentals for a wedding party. They're one of the nicest men's clothing stores in town, so that was a nice surprise! David paid for all of the guys' tuxes, and it was really reasonable.They had a huge selection of colors for vests and ties, and the tux options were perfect for what we wanted.

They looked really good together, and I was happy with the tuxes overall. We did different colored pocket squares for the two best men to make them stand out a little, and I really liked how the three different patterns (white for David, solid pink for the best men, and pink striped for the groomsmen) coordinated.

My only complaints are that they forgot to order the pocket squares when they put in the original order and that our junior groomsman's sleeves weren't the right length. They fixed the issue with the pocket squares and had them delivered the day before the wedding, and the sleeve issue wasn't entirely their fault since they didn't measure that particular guy. I do wish they would've done more to fix it when he tried it on in the store, though.

I was happy with the service and really happy with how the guys looked. I'd recommend them, but I'd also recommend that you double check your order and make sure they've got it down if you're adding something (like pocket squares). And if at all possible, I'd suggest having them measure all of the groomsmen. It just wasn't feasible with two of the guys living far away, and it ended up working out, but I think the results are better when you leave it up to them.

My rating: A-

Vendor Review - Caterer: Syl's Restaurant & Catering

I didn't blog much about what we were doing for food, mainly because it was sort of up in the air until about 2 months before the wedding. My dad is from a big German family from a small town, and they've always cooked for family weddings. The only thing is, my grandma had always been around to organize the whole thing. Since she's no longer with us, my grandma's best friend volunteered herself and my grandpa to do it. I was really excited about - It's delicious food and it would add a special touch to our reception. 

Well, just over 3 months before the wedding my grandpa made a comment about how he really would feel more comfortable if we had the meal catered. Logicstically, it was going to be difficult for them to either cook the food and then transport it here (3 hours away) or to find somewhere big enough to cook here. While disappointed, I totally understood where he was coming from. Luckily, my SIL has family that owns a restaurant and catering business just outside of Wichita. She and David's brother used them for their reception last July and all of the food was wonderful. We called them just over 2 months before the wedding hoping that they'd still be able to do a large catering order with such short notice. They said they could, and that we just needed to call back with a head count and our meal choices a week before the wedding. It couldn't have been any easier!

All of their food tastes exactly like a home cooked meal. I was SO happy with all of the dishes we chose. We did a buffet style dinner and served two meat options - BBQ beef and seasoned pork loin, a tossed salad, corn, mashed potatoes, green beans, and bread. The meal was the first thing I'd eaten all day (I feel sick when I'm nervous/anxious) and it was soo good! I wish I had some pictures, but we still haven't seen any of our pro pics. We got compliments on it from everyone!

One of the best parts of using Syl's Restaurant & Catering? We paid $6.25/person for all of that! And we had enough left over to feed all of our family that came over to open gifts with us on Sunday. There are very few good caterers in Wichita, let alone reasonably priced ones, but Syl's is absolutely wonderful! I'd recommend them to anyone!

My rating: A

*I've only got a few more vendor reviews, one of our tux rental place and one of our photographers. I'll post the tux rental place review tomorrow, but I'm going to hold off on the photographers until I get the pictures and can incorporate them into the posts. I'm hoping to start on the DIY projects that I didn't get around to blogging about before the wedding next week, so the posts will be a little more exciting! Thanks for sticking with me through these!*

Vendor Review - DJ; Another Dimension Mobile DJ Service

I loved our DJ. We booked Another Dimension nearly a year ago at a bridal show we went to where they had their equipment set up and were 'working' like they would at a wedding. We loved how upbeat and fun they were without being overwhelming. I cannot stand DJs who try to make the night about them.

He did a great job with the uplighting, which was pretty much left up to him and he was awesome at getting our guests dancing and having fun without ever being pushy. He would come find either David or me before ever making an announcement that we'd be doing something (i.e. cutting the cake, bouquet toss, first dances, etc.) so he knew we were ready. And he even got out there and did the electric slide with us!

He was training another new DJ, but it was never noticeable and we were totally fine with it. He got tons of ladies out on the dance floor for the bouquet toss, but he wasn't obnoxious and didn't drag anyone out there like I've seen done. He was excited, it showed, and it made everyone else excited. We had a great time, and the dance floor was full most of the night! I would definitely recommend the company to any bride looking for  DJ in Wichita!

My rating: A