My love proposed to me on Valentines day and since then I have been thinking about wedding stuff non stop. Here is an update on how things are going.

FYI, the wedding colors are black and white with green as an accent color. We plan to have around 100 guests. It will be in March of next year.

We have found the venue and booked it :)



It will be at a country club. We will have the ceremony on the 2nd story veranda. The picture above will be the backdrop of the ceremony. The reception will be inside the adjoining banquet room. Finding a place on the budget we have set seemed impossible, I looked at tons of venues around town, and this place was in the nicest location and was surprisingly the least expensive!

I have made most of the flower arrangements already. I opted for silk flowers because I would like to keep my bouquet longer than just a few days after the ceremony. (Also, the stores are selling silk flowers that are in season, if I didn't get them now I would be cutting it really close to have them done before the wedding).


(Top Left - my bouquet, top right - bridesmaid bouquet, bottom left - grooms boutonniere, bottom right - table centerpiece)

I had the ring pillow from my parents wedding, but the colors or style didn't match, so I took it apart and re-made it. (I forgot to take a picture of it before I took it apart)

Here is an unfinished picture of the wedding invitations. There are some elements of the invitation that I have not decided how I want yet, so they are not in the picture. I will post a picture once they are done though.

(The invitation closed)

(The inside of the invitation, the inside right flap has a pocket for the RSVP card, that is one of the elements I am not done designing)

Favors. What do I say... these little things can get expensive fast! I searched for an inexpensive but unique idea and came up with coasters. I followed these instructions.

The last thing I have made is a cardbox. This is the box that sits on the gift table and guests who brought cards can put them in there so they do not get misplaced.

I found a dress I love and I should have it next week, but I am not going to post a picture of it just in case my love happens to look at my blog :)

What are some of the things you did or made to keep the wedding under budget?

I have been trying to find a jewelry organizer that would work in the empty space in my closet, that didn't cost a fortune for quite awhile now. After looking at several sites and stores just to come up empty handed, I decided to make something that would work for my needs.

I had a small makeup bag that I stored my necklaces and earrings in, but it just turned into a tangled mess. More often than not, I would also forget what I had in there and it would sit un-touched for months at a time. Here's how I made the above jewelry organizer:

Everything that I needed to make this organizer was purchased at Walmart. I bought a coat hook for $12, a picture frame for $4 and some ribbon for $3. I carefully removed the glass and inserted some plastic canvas in it's place. For the hanger, I measured the length of ribbon I would need, tied the bow, and folded the ribbon over itself in the back a couple of times and drilled a small screw into the frame to fasten it on.

Now I can simply hang all the earrings with a hook on them into the canvas. For the earrings that do not have hooks on them, I took a small plastic bag, (like this one), punched a hole in it and put a earring hook from my craft supplies, like this through it to hang it up.

Problem solved! Now I can see what I have in an attractive, organized way and I still had enough money leftover to get that necklace I've been eyeing :)

Have you ever lived somewhere that had lots of built-in shelves and storage space? We did, at the last apartment we had, there was an abundance of shelving. It was such a nice thing to have, but when we moved into our house and didn't have it anymore, getting organized was a struggle.

Our new home has plenty of closet space, but only 1 shelf in each that is pretty high up. Lots of stuff ended up getting piled up on the floors of the closets and I couldn't find anything in there.

I love doing hands on type of projects and I figured "how hard could it be to build some shelves?" So I pulled everything out of the closet in the office and started to think I was way over my head...



Next I somehow managed to get to the closet in the back of the room, took some measurements, and headed off to the hardware store. I had 2 big sheets of plywood cut to fit the measurements I needed, bought the primer, paint and brackets and headed home.

Once we had all the unpainted shelving in place, I sanded the edges, primed the boards and painted them the same color as the rest of the closet.



(We built the shelves like this, so if we decide to take them out later we won't have a bunch of holes in the walls.)

Now, I just had to put everything where it goes. I found the storage bins in the Dollar Spot at Target and the clear plastic drawers are lined inside with pieces of scrapbook paper.



Finally, this wouldn't be complete without showing you how our office ended up looking!

Hers

His
(The desks were found at Target as well for $40 on clearance, we could have found them for less elsewhere but we were looking for something that can double as a work table for our various hobbies)

The total cost for the shelving materials was around $30. Total cost for the room was just over $100. It was money well spent for a room that we spend a lot of time in and need it to be as functional as possible.

Do you enjoy DIY projects? I'd love to hear some of your stories!

Click the image above to get 2 free Valentine's Day Craft E-Books! They are filled with cute ideas sure to make the day extra special!

Making curtains: from this...


To this :)


The tree is decorated!


Our stockings have been hung

Very easy & quick Christmas craft project - found here on BHG

Napkin rings: another craft project found on BHG here

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Right now in the Member Offers section they are offering a free copy of Homemade for the Holidays recipe guide, coupons, free printable gift labels and coloring pages, not to mention all the great recipies they have on their site year-round!

Sign up for their Simple Rewards Club here!

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