DIY Bridesmaids Kissing Ball/Pomander Bouquets

On Tuesday night, I went to Jamie's house to make the bridesmaids' bouquets. I had spent the weekend floral shopping with my aunt, and then Tuesday while I was at work the grapevine balls that I ordered from Oriental Trading Company came in the mail...so I couldn't wait to sit down and put them together.
Using wire cutters I dismantled the floral stems so that I had individual flowers and leaves with only a few inches of stem. I ran satin ribbon through the ball leaving a piece hanging from the bottom and a loop to hold onto at the top. With the "rule of threes" in mind I arranged the flower and leaf stems into the top of the grapevine balls while they were set into bowls to keep them from rolling all over the table.
Once we had the flowers arranged the way we liked, I hot glued them into place.

I used two different sizes of ivory rose flowers, green hydrangea, leaves from the rose stems, as well as green button mums and sprigs of maidenhair fern.

We decorated a grapevine basket to mimic the bridesmaids bouquets so that the flower girl will match. It is my hope that they will reflect the centerpieces' fresh flowers and everything will be tied together with a rustic shabby chic elegance.
Thanks to Jamie for her patience and ingenuity as we assembled these! I couldn't have done it without you!

My Dress is Here!!! March 10, 2012

On Saturday, March 10th, I met my Aunt Claudia for lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Clifton Park and then we did a marathon craft store shopping afternoon--hitting up Michaels, Hobby Lobby and then A.C. Moore to find silk florals for my homemade pomander bouquets. We had the most luck finding realistic flowers at Hobby Lobby and the stems were on sale 50% off! I found the rest of what I needed at the Joann Fabrics where I work and used my discount. We had an awesome afternoon together, and it was so nice to have her help picking out the flowers for this project. On my way home Jeff texted me that my wedding dress had arrived through FedEx from the North Carolina David's Bridal where I had ordered it when visiting my mom and my sisters. I could hardly contain my excitement when I got home!
Luckily, Jeff's sister Lindsey (one of my bridesmaids) and her fiance Matt were coming over for dinner and had already arrived when I got home--so I swept Lindsey upstairs in my excitement and she photographed me as I peeled the tape back from the massive box that contained my dress.


Within the box was the dress bag, and in the bag is the dress you can't see yet. It was prettier than I remembered but just as fluffy! Between all the layers Lindsey and I discovered the bustle points were not tacked on very well and several had already come undone---so when I take it for my next fitting they will have to re-secure them. Oh David's Bridal...sooner or later we will get this dress right! I'm sure it will be beautiful on my big day!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping Round Two

Today Jamie and Lindsey came out to try on the bridesmaid dresses we had settled on before with my sisters. It would seem that after rack fulls of dresses, just nothing could quite compare to this strapless dress with pockets that didn't require alterations for either of them. After getting the $20 discount for me having purchased my wedding dress at David's Bridal, their dresses only came to $85. Whoohoo! Now the shawl/cardigan and shoes shopping and we will be all set. I will be making their jewelry as part of their bridesmaids gift.
Jenna found her flower girl dress too! (See previous post)
Here are the girls lined up to place their orders and pay for their dresses. Jenna smiles with her elephant, Ellie, and mom, Nicole. We were excited to be headed to lunch next, where I treated the girls to Olive Garden's soup, salad, and bread sticks. We lucked out and only had to wait a few minutes for a table and I had plenty of time to spare to make it back to Amsterdam for work at Joann Fabrics for the evening. It was a great day!

Meet Jenna, My Flower Girl

Jenna is my adorable 3 year old niece-to-be. She accompanied me, my friend Jamie, and my future sister-in-laws Lindsey and Nicole to David's Bridal today to do some dress shopping with the big girls. The place was an absolute zoo today, being a Saturday morning and dozens of girls in prom dress shopping--so I was overwhelmed--and so was Jenna!! The first dress she tried on, I could only get a shot of her in the dressing room. It was a pretty ivory dress with beading towards the top and reminded me alot of my own wedding dress.
Dress number two was a cute little halter dress Aunt Lindsey picked for her to try on. She strayed away from mom (Nicole) for this photo, but didn't keep the dress on long.
I finally got a smile out of her in this one, dress #3. She didn't want to take this one off and kept it on almost the whole time Lindsey and Jamie tried on dresses. I even got a few shots of her in this one with a tiara! She "said yes" to this dress! It was her favorite, so much so, that she had no interest in trying on the few others we had picked out for her to put on. Works for me! I'm glad she picked it out and loves it and she has room to grow into it before she needs to wear it in October.
Here's Aunt Tabitha's princess! I am so happy that she got to be part of our girls' day out! It will be just a cute to see her brother, Justin, our ring bearer, trying on tuxes with the guys in a few months. It means to much to have them part of our big day, and to share these experiences with them leading up to it.

There's No Escaping Wedding Drama

The most frequent advice I get from people about wedding planning is, "Don't try to make everyone happy--it's going to be impossible and it's your day so just do what will make you happy." So true--it is impossible to make everyone happy, and it seems like the harder I tried, the more miserable I became. The only thing certain about weddings is that they come with their fair share of drama--and mine is no exception.

The thing I didn't expect though, was that my MOH and her interactions with the rest of the bridal party would be my biggest source of stress (so far anyway). When things got too tense, she thankfully decided to step out of the wedding.

So in future posts, you will see that my friend Jamie has stepped in as my fourth bridesmaid when I needed her most, and I have not as of yet decided what to do about naming a new Maid of Honor. Jamie was asked to be a fifth bridesmaid before my original MOH left the equation. It just so happened that she accepted around the same time, which made me feel grateful and hopeful amidst all the stress. They say everything happens for a reason...