Ummm..... I am sorry.... Um I got Married?!

I know... I know...  It's not a very good excuse for my lack of blogging. It has been a busy year, but still I just got lazy and very wrapped up in all the wedding craziness, as well as the post "nesting" period
(not sure if that is actually something associated with marriage). Luckily, I continued to do a few projects throughout the house and even took pictures! Anyone who knows me well,  knows that the fact that I took pictures is absolutely surprising! I am notorious for bringing a camera on a vacation or to an event and not taking a single photo! I just tend to forget! :)

Anyways, since there is "evidence" of these projects I am going to spend some time back tracking and posting about them. I am also very excited to show you what I have done with some of the leftover wedding decor! When I first began planning my wedding, I was quite determined to use decor that we could eventually turn around and reuse in some capacity. I won't sit here and say that I am a super "green" person, but I try my best to be considerate and have really been learning different ways to "reduce and reuse." This has been a theme I am seeing a lot lately within my own groups of friends and family, as well as ideas I have seen posted on various blogs I read and Pinterest. So below are some of the ways I tried this express this theme in our own wedding....

1.) I shopped A LOT on Etsy.com. If you are not familiar with this site, you so need to check it out!!! It's basically ebay for crafters!!! You can find so many talented artists, collectors, and crafters, as well as some wonderful prices! Here is what we bought...

• Save the Dates  http://www.etsy.com/listing/90944140/custom-save-the-date-listing-for 
• Invitations and Thank you's  http://www.etsy.com/listing/88750118/old-fashioned-wedding-invitation-rsvp 
• "Doodle" Cards for the Church  https://www.etsy.com/transaction/82722274
• Ribbon             http://www.etsy.com/listing/100178025/16-yards-stitched-grosgrain-ribbon 
• Thumbprint Tree "Guest Book"   https://www.etsy.com/transaction/75651372 
• My garter set   http://www.etsy.com/listing/85290362/rhinestone-wedding-garters-navy-blue 
• Stamp               https://www.etsy.com/transaction/75826245 
• Our Cake Topper  http://www.etsy.com/listing/100189358/ivory-snuggling-love-bird-cake-topper 
• My Hair comb   https://www.etsy.com/transaction/82259289 
• And even my veil!   https://www.etsy.com/transaction/74009485 

*** Most of the pictures are just samples of what our items looked like (I don't want to have personal info like addresses on the web), so the colors are not exactly what we used. Basically all of our items were the same style but in the colors of Navy and Blush Pink. However, feel free to order through these links if you are interested, all the vendors were awesome to work with!


2.) I actually bought vintage jewelry for my bridesmaids. All the items were from the 1950's and I had a lot of fun searching for each piece. I tried to match each style of necklace to my bridesmaids' personalities, while still sticking with a round stone theme. I think they looked lovely and they all really enjoyed them as well!


3.) When it came to our caterer we could not been more blessed. Our venue worked with Jeffrey A. Miller Catering and they were fantastic and yummy too! The best part was how accommodating they were! They made adjustments for not only my allergies (that could be whole other blog post! ), but as well as our guests too. In that case, no food was wasted or thrown aside. Also Jeffrey Miller really likes to focus on using locally grown produce, so it was great to help local businesses in a small way too.

4.) Favors! I am not a fan of favors that are items like shot glasses, frames, etc. While they can be very cute, I think its hard to find one item that is the style of every one of your guests. Therefore I am sure many favors end up being thrown in a drawer or even thrown out (yes, I am guilty of this oops!) So in that case I wanted something that would not be wasted. We decided to order different flavors of popcorn from one of my favorite shops in Maine. We vacation there every summer and half of my family is from there, so it was a fun surprise for those relatives at the wedding. I dressed up each bag in a fun popcorn box and put on a cheesy label that said Thank you for making our Hearts POP! Our guests loved the late night treat and were snacking on them already as they headed out the door! We also enjoyed the leftovers as well!

5.) As for decor, we have reused a lot of it in our home. I will show you one example in this post and hopefully share some more over time. Today, I will show you our seating chart board. I really stressed the fact that I didn't want to clutter the reception tables with too much and also waste so much paper
( I really do love trees! ) With this in mind, I found the idea of doing a framed seating chart board on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of having a easel and frames, since our wedding was in a museum. I also loved that these frames could be used in our home afterwards. We used a large IKEA Frame and attached smaller frames with industrial strength velcro (I highly recommend it! It holds heavy items well and can be found in craft stores). All the smaller frames had the names of our guests in alphabetical order and with their table number in matching fonts. These were simply printed off our home computer. I used some polka dot fabric in the background ( I had to sneak them in somehow! :) and then simply attached each smaller frame to the glass.  After the wedding I was able to break down this frame and scrap off the velcro with some windex. I then decided to turn the large frame into a chalkboard. Another Pinterest idea! It was very simple! I took out the glass carefully and sanded it lightly. I then purchased some chalkboard spray paint (can be found in stores like Home Depot or even off Amazon) and sprayed two coats of it on the glass. I allowed it to dry for 2 days just to be safe. I then put it back into the frame and used to chalk to scribble all over and to break the chalkboard in (it was recommended online to do this).  So then Voila! We have a chalkboard! We recently used it to post holiday messages, but I am thinking it will  eventually become a calendar/message board in our kitchen!

Well, that is all for today. I apologize for the HUGE post, but I guess I was making up for lost time! :)

Take Care and Happy New Year!

Christine