Katie-Did

I just wanted to take a moment to share a few of the vendors from our wedding! First and foremost, our fabulous photographer Matt ( http://dangerteamisgo.com/ ) did an AMAZING job and not only gave us beautiful wedding pictures but adorable engagement photos, too!  I used shutterfly  to create a few little items including our guest book  (which turned out SO great! It's so different from a boring, generic guest book, and I'm so happy we got to use our engagement pictures in such a fun, creative way!) and also thank you cards , which I can't wait to send!! We also adored our caterer who made the cutest, most tasty desserts, Bake Sale Austin ! Everyone raved, we had the best snacks: chocolate truffles rolled in espresso crunch, strawberry shortcakes, vanilla panna cotta with strawberries and balsamic topping, assorted fruit cobblers in individual jars, lemon pudding cups with pistachio brittle crunch, coconut cookies, lemon bars, and zucchini cupca...

Our wedding and all of our crafts turned out JUST like I'd hoped they would! It looked very Anthropologie-ish, with a little less bohemian and more classic thrown in... the silhouettes on the invitations and other signs kept things elegant and fancy, while the cafe lights and photobooth created an air of festivity! The lace tablecloths and burlap runner were very subtley elegant, and I was definitely overwhelmed with the love, support, friendship, and beauty surrounding the event! Below are a handful of pictures to show off all of our hard work! :)   Bouquet and bouttoniere (bride and dad!!) walking down the aisle :)  Matron of Honor, Bride, and Officiant (all siblings!) with our very cute lighting, paper pennants, handmade centerpieces and rustic elegant backyard!  Here are the paper lanterns and tulle that I posted about earlier!  Our drinks and signs throughout (some not pictured!) mirrored the design of the stationery and w...

Ever since the first time I saw this picture, I've wanted to build a photo booth for our wedding: Lucky for me, I have some pretty handy men in my life!! Ted and my brother Frank (yes, the same Brother Franklin who will be officiating at our ceremony, VERY multi-talented!) spent hours yesterday IN A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR (it really was a pretty bad storm) putting together the framework for a photo booth - needless to say there are no pictures since they were hard at work and staying dry!  Today, Ted and I got to do the "easy part" of assembling the dry wall and wallpapering! We bought super adorable wallpaper with Parisian touches (the Eiffel Tower, of course, since we got engaged atop it!!), the World's Fair ferris wheel, Notre Dame, etc.! Frank brought us some leftover wainscoting to use at the bottom since our wallpaper wouldn't quite cover the square footage of the drywall! We also purchased some extra large frames on Etsy so we'd be able to ...

I've seen a lot of tulle/lights combinations and thought, hey, I could try that!! So I bought 30 yards of tulle ($25!), 4 strands of white Christmas lights (plus 1 we had from Christmas - NOT the kind with green wire but white wire!!), a package of little white hooks, and got crackin'!! I'm pretty pleased!! Sort of "homemade wedding at home" meets " Footloose prom" - but in a good way!!

I really wanted to do something unique for out-of-towners, but still be as frugal and crafty as possible! I quickly typed up a document in Word using 3 columns, utilizing the same fonts that we had on the invitations and save the dates, and voila! The trickiest part was the hole in the hanger - I took a round sticker, cut along the outside of it, and done! Crafty, cute, and custom!!

I wanted to wrap my cute little bridesmaidy gifts today, and had a good time at JoAnn's, clearly! I am proud of my gift-wrapping, and just had to post a picture ;) Supplies: Hexagonal cardboard boxes Vellum tape Toothpick flags Mini chalkboards Paper flower stickers Needle Scissors Gift inside ;) I took a thick needle and poked a hole in each box large enough for the toothpick. I cut the foam padding for the gift to a hexagonal shape and laid them all carefully in their new homes! Then I taped the boxes shut with the vellum tape, put a paper flower on top, and put the mini chalkboard around the flag! We only have giant chalk at our house, and it was too hard to write the whole name, so everyone's initials are on the labels instead ;) This all really goes with our wedding because we'll have chalkboard decorations, banners hanging around, and paper flowers mixed in with the wreath and boutonnieres!  I hope my ladies enjoy these and what's inside as much...

As a DIY bride, I have had many grand ideas of projects to do for my wedding... however, with only 27 days to go, I am realizing that some of these ideas are just better purchased than created! While yes, I could in theory make these things for much cheaper than I could buy them, would they REALLY be worth saving $20 when I'd be working late the night before my wedding? Probably not.  This occurred to me when I decided that I could easily (ha!) and cheaply make tissue paper poms - look how cute! ALL you have to do is buy bulk tissue paper (check!), white pipe cleaners (check!), fold the tissue paper accordion-style, cut off the ends, wrap the pipe cleaners around the middle, and gently unfold each piece! It takes about 10 minutes per pom pom and only costs about $5! Oh but it has to be done the night before you use them so they don't go flat... do I really want to spend the night of my rehearsal dinner creating 12 (count that, 12 x 10 minutes = 2 hours) pom poms inst...

Ted and I have 48 days until our wedding, and are coming into the final planning stages!  Today's plan? Taste testing our signature cocktails!!  We decided that in order to save money without cutting something we enjoy, to limit our drink selection to just a few that make us happy! Along with beer and bubbly, we're going to be serving two tasty tipples! ilovemargaritas The first is named after yours truly as this was my screen name on OKCupid where we met! I DO love margaritas, so OF COURSE they're going to be at my wedding!! Last week we infused some alcohol, and being a Texas gal, I made some jalapeno tequila! Since this was our first time infusing, I tried just one jalapeno sliced up and stored in the tequila overnight. The next day I strained it (spilled it, oops), sniffed it and gave it my approval! We'll see tonight how it goes ;) Ingredients: 2 parts jalapeno tequila 1.5 part orange liqueur 1 part lime juice 2 parts orange juice splash of sprite 2 pa...

I found the most adorable bachelorette party hat recently, and when I asked the store clerk how much it was, it was a RIDICULOUS $160. Why would someone pay $160 for a hat that you CLEARLY cannot wear regularly??  I thought to myself, CERTAINLY I am crafty enough to make my own!! And muahaha (evil laugh!!) - I AM!! I found this great pattern which is easy and cheap, but SUPER CUTE!! Kind of my motto, I'd say! Materials: 1/4 yard of fun fabric (I used leftover satin from my bouquets which was handy! Just be careful to not use the iron as hot as you normally would with other fabric when fusing the fabric and fusible fleece together!) 3/8 yard fusible fleece (you don't use that much, but it sure is helpful when you accidentally iron it and it melts!) One 9x12" sheet of 2 mm craft foam Hot glue gun and sticks (yay!) Attachment for your head (I used a comb because it's less obvious!) Embellishments - I used some tulle (50% off, hooray!), ribbon, stickers that ...

I'm super excited about my wedding favors! They're not only adorable (and useful!), but under $1.75 each ;)  I have decided to give out little jars with matches in them (they can be stored as an alternative to matchbooks all over people's houses, or even taken camping and they're waterproof!) along with sparklers during our wedding reception for the send-off!  They are super easy - I purchased some vials with corks from Specialty Bottle Company  that are the right size for matches (these are .75"x2.75", but I could've gone a little bit shorter had I wanted!) and they each hold approximately 25 matches.  I also got strike anywhere matches - make sure you don't get the kind to strike on the box since you won't have a box to strike on!! You'll also need sandpaper and a large round hole punch (since the jar was .75" in diameter, the hole punch is also the same size because of course the cork is slightly larger), a glue stick, ribbon, and label...

I wanted to make something for the moms, stepmoms, and grandmas of the bunch to say, "hey, we're the reason these two are here! Or we're the date of someone who's a reason these two are here ;)" so I decided to make wrist corsages! They're a bit of a combo of the bouquets  and boutonnières , with little fancy flowers and two leaves each that can be bent around the wrist in whatever direction you feel like! First step, I used this  tutorial  which I also used for my bouquet - you have to be VERY careful because you are essentially melting fabric! The fabric used should be a little stretchy and have more than just cotton in its content because cotton will just burn, not curl. I used satin that is actually from my sister's wedding! I made her a little handbag for something blue and now I get to use it in my own wedding years later! Next, I created the leaves using the same technique as the bouttonierres, but they were a bit smaller. I also created the...

I've already shown you the save the dates  and wedding invitations , but we have added more!!! We also have RSVP cards now and directions! And of course an adorably assembled set, if I do say so myself ;) We matched the RSVP cards to the save the dates, and made the text a little more playful just for fun! Our directional cards are the same font and same blue as the RSVP cards, but striped like the invitations!    Ted created an amazing back to the invitation, and we also created stickers out of the same "logo" with some fun paper we bought at a local paper store! And here is the full set all together! The stamps read "Katie & Ted the grandest adventure" which we think is appropriate because we love adventuring so much ;) The only part you don't see is the lovely one cent price increase, and we solved that issue by getting stamps with cats on them. It only made sense considering how much we love our Nesse cat! ...