Baby, it's hot outside

Being from North Carolina, I knew there was a good chance our mid-May wedding could be ruined with heat, rain, random chills-maybe all of the above! About two weeks prior to the wedding, I thought "I should make some fans for the wedding!" I looked online and they cost $25 for 20 printable ones! I swear if it has the word "wedding" attached, they triple the price.

It hit me, at the state fair last year, Food Lion was giving out fans! I had gotten there early before they realized they needed to unwrap the bunch and gave me 2 packs of 20. They would be perfect to recreate!

I should have taken a before picture. But they were just square on a Popsicle stick with this fun logo:

Using a can of spray paint, I made them all white. I then cut an "L" on the pazzles and some polka dots out of some scrap vinyl. I now had 20 custom fans!

(Sorry this is the only up close photo I took before I put the ribbons on...silly phone camera)

But this one is after the ribbon (after the ceremony)

It ended up being a perfect 70 degrees during the wedding but people loved them at the party-I only had 2 leftover cause so many people took them home with them!

Total Cost: $4 Spray Paint + Vinyl $2.50 + Ribbon $1 =$7.5

A Simple Family Meal

One thing I love about my parents is their creativity and emphasis on family. When we were kids, my dad took a sheet of plywood and a few pieces of wood, added some fold-able legs and made 2 extensions for our dinner table. Each "leaf" is 6' and our regular table is 6'. With the 2 leafs up, we have an 18' table!

For 30 years, they've hosted Thanksgiving for anyone that can make it. One year we had almost 60 people! Normally, the "Adults" get to sit at the large table but it can fit 20+ people at it. This is something I took for granted until I spent Thanksgiving with another family. I saw that normal large family gatherings require people to sit at only 6-8 people per table.

I knew I wanted to share our first meal together as a couple at a table with both of our families. My mom knew buying custom table clothes would never work so she made the tablecloth and the runner for both the family table and the friends table. We used white tablecloths and a black runner with a red ribbon on top. The table cloths and runners can also be used for other functions.

Total Cost: None-all supplies were donated by mom and dad. :)

I'm so glad that I have these friends o' mine

I had the joys of growing up in a small town. Oh you know the kind...where everyone knows everyone. I wouldn't trade it for anything and in my dream world, I'd live in that same town surrounded by those I met and loved in college and post-college years.

My best friend from childhood happened to be a photographer. So she helped out...more than helped out. I would not have made it through my wedding without her. She was the calming force when stuff would go wrong. She did my make up, my photos, my photobooth, giving me ideas, giving me support, making christmas gifts for me, working as a waitress at the wedding, setting up the party...you name it, she was there making it happen. I couldn't thank her enough for everything. 

Her husband even married us and did photos and showed up at the party as chuck-e-cheese! 

A family friend (my other bestie's cooler older sister that use to drive us to school in her classic VW bug) found out we were doing a carnival theme and offered us her popcorn machine and cotton candy. She had all the popcorn and butter! Then 2 days before the wedding, she gave me the most perfect pair of sunglasses to match my outfit. 

My hairdresser got sick the day before, her coworker called to say she could do it and even gave us a big discount. Turns out, we were part of a wedding before where she did the bride's hair and I was the maid of honor! 

My best female friends from college helped me plan, execute, and decorate for the wedding. Coming a full two days before and set it all up! 

Save that Date baby!

Since we were engaged for 18 months, people kept asking more and more about it. We had told them a date but even by 10 months out, people wanted something mailed to them.  

We went for a ribbon number but I wanted to do something a little different. I used the sizzix to cut out the tree and card. Used the sizzix to emboss the dots on the flap and used a stamp and heat embossing to do the "Save the Date" We printed on regular 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock and chalked in the color. To add a little flavor to it, we added hearts from a small stamp to act as apples.

If I could have done it differently, I would have hot glued the numbers onto the ribbon instead of laminating them on. The laminating failed sometimes and the ribbon got sticky from it. but they turned out fantastic.

Total cost: around $25 for all 16 made and sent making them $1.56 each

I do it with Swagger and Points

For those who are couponers, you probably know the world of mypoints or swagbucks. I would check almost every day for the first few months to do as many surveys as I could. It would take about 20-30 minutes a day if I qualified for a survey. My fiance also did this and so did my mom. Over several months, we were able to accrue almost $100 in amazon gift cards on swagbucks.


With mypoints, I had scored up thousands of points by clicking through emails every day over the years. I honestly forget I'm doing it until Wednesdays and then go through and click them all. I traded them in for $100 in amazon gift cards.

Pictured below is the first set of things I purchased with the cards. We also purchased syrup flavors, more machines, and cotton candy sticks.

Overall, the total cost of all the machines, using gift cards, and special deals ($25 gift card for $10 things), I ended up only paying about $50 out of pocket for the "entertainment."

A Delightful Gift

While discussing my idea for an invitation, I told my mom about how I really wanted a cricut or something like it to help me. After researching, I decided I'd like a Pazzles.

To my delight, my mom bought us one as a gift and a contribution to the wedding. Now, I don't want anyone to think my parents didn't help because my mom is amazing and my dad is awesome and they both did a TON of work prepping the house and food for the wedding.

This was just in addition. This machine basically helped me accomplish my dreams. I had a sizzix that helped with Save the Dates but now I could do even more!

Decisions, Decisions

I knew we had to have both the families there. With give and take, we were able to get the guest list down to 28 people.

For these 28 people, I wanted them to have something to take home with them.

I wanted to invite my groom's sister to be our Ring Bearer/Bridesmaid. I wanted to make sure it was special for her too since she's 11 (at the time of engagement-12 by the wedding).

I knew I would sew my dress.

I knew I could make the programs.

I knew I could make the decorations.

We're now facing a lot of decision of stuff I never thought about. I played on all the wedding websites. Lots and lots and lots of ideas. I stole a lot of ideas. I came up with my own for others. Nothing could be normal!

It was an addiction. But the more I looked, the more I realized, I really wanted to do something for my friends. My core group from college is like my family. We literally talk to each other everyday-even after 10 years. I couldn't imagine a "Special Day" without my special folks. So BAM. Party was created.

Now we have a wedding, a lunch for the family, and a party for the friends. This is getting hectic. And oh yeah, this party was going to have to be included in the $1800 wedding budget.