Southern Sweethearts: All the Small Things

"As a journalist, the details always tell the story. "
James McBride

Oh, how I completely understand this quote! (I am a journalist, photographer, and self-proclaimed perfectionist. So details are kinda my thing.) And that's why I had details galore in our wedding! Many of them were DIY details that I'm sure some of you have been waiting a looong time to see in action.

They'll be plenty more details in coming posts, but here's some to get you ready for the main event: our ceremony! :)

First, my lovely DIY flowers!

At first, I wanted an all white peony bouquet. But when our colors changed, I decided on a pink bouquet and I absolutely loved the way my bouquet came out!

My something blue!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to gather family photos for my special locket. My Mom had recently moved and all of her stuff was in storage, making it extremely difficult to get to the photos in time. :(

I loved ALL of my bouquets (bridesmaids, flower girls, mothers, and toss)...

...but I put a little more effort into the matron of honor bouquet. Hers was a mix of all the flowers used, and it had its own cameo to distinguish it from the others.

Do I spy Loubies?

Why yes I do!

I had the shoe clips custom-made through an Etsy seller using the "alchemy" request. The clips were originally a different design but when she sent them, they were too small! There was some trouble with the redesign, shipping, and communication. But in the end, they turned out fine even if they weren't quite what I wanted and I almost had a heart attack thinking they wouldn't be done in time. And to top it off, I ended up losing one of the clips on the way to our reception site! :(

If you recall, my Louboutins were missing most of the wedding day. Thankfully, they were located before the ceremony. But they still weren't on my feet just yet...

And since I'm showing off the bling, might as well show off the DIY ring dish I made for them to chill in on the way down the aisle.

Remember my DIY wreath and my DIY mason jar/magnolia aisle liners with the "faux" water?

How about my semi-DIY double duty program fans?

And the last little detail wasn't one I had planned on. Best man Don snuck in some mini-liquor bottles for some ceremony "tailgating" if you will.

Just a small indication of what's to come!

What are some little details you're going to include in your wedding? Will any of them be DIY creations?

Previously on Southern Sweethearts:

• Southern Belles Do Tea
• A Rude Vendor Interrupts Our Rehearsal
• We Have Dinner on the Savannah River
• A Spooky Ghost Tour and My Last Fling
• Our Wedding Trailer
• Becoming a Blushing Bride
• I Slip Into My eBay Wedding Dress
• The Fellas Get "Sessay"
• He Got Boudoir, I Got Bling
• An Unplanned First Look
• Our Wedding Party...and Paparazzi

Next Up: We Get Hitched!

*All professional photos by Lindsi Jones Photography. Some images may have been slightly altered by moi.

My Very Own Big Arse Hair Flower

Okay, so mine isn't as big as Mrs. Perfume's, but I still love it! Especially since it's semi-homemade!

I purchased my peony fascinator from Etsy Seller EnchantedlyYours for only $16.50 shipped, but I wasn't really feeling the rhinestone center when it arrived.


So I decided to do something about it. I found some cheap (like $2!) crafting beads at Michael's that included white, ivory, and light pink pearls in a variety of sizes. I chose the variety pack because I didn't know which color or size I would end up liking.


First, I carefully removed the rhinestone center using a spoon to pry it from its hot glue setting.


After I had removed the rhinestone, I played around with different bead coloring and sizes to see what combo I liked the most. I used the now empty center to arrange them before committing to the glue gun. I ended up choosing the white pearls because the light pink didn't look like what I had pictured in my head. Good thing I went with the variety pack!


Once I was happy with an arrangement, I made a pool of glue in the center.



I had to work quickly to set the pearls in place. I used tweezers to place the beads in a position where their holes (for threading) wouldn't show.



I didn't like the simple 6 pearl setting, so I added some of the smaller beads until I had something I liked.


All done! I used 6 big pearls as the base, then built on it using another layer of medium pearls (5), then one small pearl at the center on top.


And because I did this right after a workout, there was no way I was going to take a picture of my semi-DIY fascinator in my nasty hair. Luckily, my yellow Labrador, Dixie, was sitting nearby. She became my reluctant model.


But she's camera shy and quickly ran off to hide under the coffee table...


I love my big arse hair flower! And I saved about $45 to comparable hair pieces like the one below!

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DIY Bridesmaids' Bouquets Part 1: The Transformers

I know I left you hanging with my DIY bridal bouquet mock trial. I abandoned that effort for awhile after changing my color scheme and deciding to go with a new dusty pink bouquet to match my shoes. I still haven't found any fake peonies in that color, but in the meantime I've been on the lookout for my bridesmaids' flowers.

I finally ran into some when I wasn't even looking. I was strolling around the mall looking for a place to get a quick and cheap hair trim when I saw that A.C. Moore was having a huge sale on their florals. As soon as I was finished being groomed, I high-tailed it back over to the store and started on a shopping frenzy.

After the dust settled, I had the following loot:


Enough for 3 bridesmaids' bouquets! After a lot of debate, I decided to go with separate flowers for each girl and then combine all the flowers into one bouquet for not me, but my matron of honor. I'm sticking with my beloved peonies but I wanted a way to have my MOH stand out, and a combo bouquet is just the ticket! My bouquet will still be the largest and most lush, but it's fun knowing my MOH will have a little mark of distinction.

I'm still searching for one more flower in the same pink for the last bouquet (not including the combo MOH bouquet). I really want the ranunculus, but I'm not seeing it anywhere! I may have to go online to find a light pink fake version, so it could be awhile before I complete this little endeavor.

Anyhoo, as soon as I got home, I started work on the task at hand. First up, the hydrangea bouquet. I won't go back through the tutorial since I used the same method in my previous post about DIY fake florals, but I will tell you that these suckers were a lot harder to work with than the peony.

They are a lot more delicate and deceivingly full. I had to constantly rework the shaping to make them round. Once again, I forgot to purchase wire clippers, so I had to cut the coating with scissors then work the wire back and forth until they snapped apart. My first round with the hydrangea looked weak to say the least:


But I kept at it! I finished "beefing" up the handle with a trick a reader gave me in my last post (thanks Andrea!). I did it by adding in the leftover stems while putting together the stems with the blooms. Genius.

After I was done, the bouquet performed a little trick of its own. My little work of art transformed from a regular bouquet into a stunning centerpiece!


While at A.C. Moore, I purchased a couple smooth mason jars and candle rings in our wedding colors to do a trial run our centerpieces. If you can remember, I originally planned to use a combination of mason jars, lanterns, and candelabras for the centerpieces. Well, after attending one of my bridesmaids' wedding last weekend and seeing her clever dual use of the BMs' bouquets as centerpieces, I decided to nix the candelabras and do the same! I'll still have some lanterns, but the mason jars will now be filled with the BMs' bouquets. All I have to do is add some kind of sea glass or something to the jars to keep the bouquets upright and add more detail. Suggestions are very welcome!

Because I'm having a cocktail hour in a separate parlor, my BMs will be able to sneak into the reception hall and place their bouquets into the mason jars before anyone else enters the room. At the end of the night, they can collect their bouquets to keep if they wish. Best part? This saves me money! Boo-yah!

I guess I should show you what I did with the other two flower choices? Well, here's my fave of the three bouquets, the daisies! They were by far the easiest of the bouquets to make. I was done in less than 10 minutes. FSIL already staked a claim on these:



And last but certainly not least are the roses. They even had little "thorns" on them that actually hurt a bit as I was plucking off the leaves. They made the handle really hard to wrap and I had to keep trimming some of them off.



And here's the whole lot together, "transforming" into centerpieces! I'll probably add tea candles around them just to spruce up the tables a bit more. Then all that will be left to do is adding the doggie table numbers (and completing the other 5 centerpieces)!


I can't take the all the credit on these bouquet/centerpieces. FSIL's husband's niece was in town with her mother and helped me snap apart the stems (after I prepped them, unbeknown to her). Who doesn't love a little child labor? :P

I love that she has her sippy cup on hand when the really tough ones come up!

Ah! Success!

So I bet you're wondering how much money all of this trouble actually saved me? Well, see for yourself! Keep in mind, these flowers won't die a few days after the wedding! ;)

Bridesmaids' Bouquets

Daisy Bouquet
10 stems
x $2.09 each
---------------
$20.90

Hydrangea Bouquet
5 stems
x $2.79 each
--------------
$13.95

Rose Bouquet
8 stems
x $1.39 each
--------------
$11.12

Chocolate Satin Ribbon
$4.39 for 1 1/2 yards

Pearl-headed Pins
$0.00 (left over from previous bouquet project)

Grand Total Including Tax
$53.89 OR $17.96 each

Centerpieces

Mason Jars:
$1 each x 3 = $3

Berry Candle Ring:
$2 each x 4 = $8

Grand Total Including Tax
$11.77 OR $3.92 each

The Bridal Party "Look Book": Inspiration Boards Included!

Okay, are you ready for the big reveal? *cue drumroll*

For my bridal earrings I chose the lovely gold and pink bow earrings for the amazingly low price of $13.oo plus $3.50 shipping and handling! (Can you tell I'm channeling my inner Billy Mays? Man, I'm gonna miss that guy.) Aren't they beauts?

I could have easily picked any of the choices in my previous post because they are all so beautiful. But it was ultimately the price tag and Mr. Lab's approval that did it for me. (I had him pick his favorite before telling him my fave-we both picked these!) I think they'll also compliment my dress and whatever pink shoes I end up with perfectly. My bridal "look" is coming along quite nicely but is missing a little something. Perhaps a dainty bracelet to match the earrings?

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I love the romantic and vintage look of cameos. And this bracelet fits pefectly into the bridal color scheme! But oy! Again with the price! $278?!? No thank you. Back to combing the interwebs for an affordable cameo bracelet....

Wait, what's that you got there Ebay? Oh, a cameo bracelet just as charming for a fraction of the price? I see how you do!

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So for less than $25, I will have wrapped up my bridal jewelry for the big day. Yes, I am a full-fledged bargainista. :D

Warning: Sensitive information coming up. So if you go by the WB moniker of Mr. Lab, stop scrolling now. I mean it!

In honor of these great new finds (and my obvious new obsession with Picasa's collage feature), I created a "bridal look book" inspiration board:




I'm being serious Mr. Lab. You go any further and I'll sell one of your kidneys on the black market to pay for my Louboutins! ;)




Okay, I think the coast is clear.

*TA-DA!*

This board features: My earrings and bracelet and the shoes I covet. My hair and makeup inspirations. My dream dress and a gorgeous fascinator. And an adorable clutch and lush bridal bouquet*.

And no, I haven't forgotten my bridesmaids! For them I chose the pink topaz and swarvoski crystal earrings.

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Although these are $39 a pop, I couldn't help but fall in love. They would match the bridesmaids' dresses so perfectly! So I crossed my fingers and contacted the seller in hopes of finding a way to negotiate the price. After a few messages back and forth, she offered to replace the pink topaz with pink quartz and give me a 12% discount because of the larger order. That brings the total down to $22.88 for each pair. Still a bit more than I was looking to spend, but definitely doable for such gorgeous pieces that I will be gifting to my fabulous girls. I may even see if my MOH's MIL (holy acronyms!) could replicate these for me since she's somewhat of a jewelry extraordinaire. Anywho, the moral of my Etsy story: never hesitate to negotiate price with ANYthing on Etsy. I saved a ton on my save the dates by negotiation.

And so the bridesmaids aren't left out of the inspiration board fun, I created this:

Their dresses will have a skirt closer to the chocolate color swatch shown. And I just decided today that I will be making their (fake) bouquets using dahlias, ranunculus, peonies, and possibly hydrangeas, all in a monochromatic pink tone. The girls will wear whatever shoes they like since no one will see them anyways. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want them to have necklaces to go along with the earrings, or just go with bare decolletages.

*Yes, I'm changing my bouquet color! You shall hear more about this soon enough!

Faux Florals: My Flower Details

It's finals week for me which means a week full of some major procrastination. Luckily, I exempted 2 finals and only have 1 left. The test isn't until Friday, so I've been getting lots of wedding planning done in the meantime. I wish studying for a test was as much fun as planning for a wedding! Ah, in a perfect world...

Anyways, I was out scouting the floral section at my local Michael's and Hobby Lobby when I made a very big decision. I am going to use as few real flowers in my wedding decor as possible. I know, I know! Some of you are thinking I've gone completely bonkers. But trust me, I've thought long and hard about this. I'm just not a flower person. Plain and simple. Because of this, I see no reason to spend tons of money on something I'm not into (and neither is Mr. Lab).

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My decision was aided by the fact that silk flowers have come a LONG way in recent years. I was able to check out some of the new "true touch" peonies I wrote about earlier. I honestly wouldn't be able to tell the difference between them and real peonies unless I was either told or smelled them (and I hope I'm not inviting any creepers to my wedding who would walk up and sniff my flowers!). I would have bought some right then and there had they been the right cream color. Instead, I ordered the flowers for my bouquet from Fiori Belli. My bouquet only cost $80 shipped and will last forever! Because the blooms are so big, I probably won't need all the flowers to make the bouquet (I'm ordering 1 set of 6 stems each of cupped and full blown blossoms). I will possibly use any extra stems to make a hairpiece or in other decor. Now I have to start thinking about the ribbon for the handle of the bouquet!

As for the other floral details of the wedding, I have a few ideas in mind. I'm using either Wedding Decor Online or Psalm117 on Etsy for my flower girl pomanders (that they'll get to keep!). I am making my BM's bouquets but haven't decided on the flower I want to use. And for the ceremony, I may go the same route as Mrs. Cherry Pie and line my aisle with mason jars filled with flowers. This may be one of the few places I use real flowers. If I do, I'll reuse them in the reception space. I don't know whether I'll use sheperd's hooks or just ribbon to hang the jars yet. Which one do you prefer?

Mrs. Cherry Pie's mason jars & dahlias
Photo by Piknik Studios



Using ribbon will be cheaper and easier.
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Is anyone else using fake flowers for the majority of their floral decor?

Peony Passion

When I first started planning for our wedding, flowers were the least of my concerns. I'm not a big flower person (they die quick, so what's the point?) but I do want to have bouquets for all the girls in my wedding. Because I'm not a big flower person, it took lots of research and time to find a flower I would like to carry in my bouquet down the aisle. I finally decided on an all white (technically cream) bouquet of peonies. The more I looked at pictures of them, the more I fell in love.

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*SWOON.* If flowers were celebrities, the peony would be Brad Pitt. MANY women want them in their weddings. But like Miss Cowboy Boot, I found out that the peony is not in season in November. I was devastated.

I briefly entertained the idea of similar flowers, but I'm not giving up on my new favorite flower that easily! You fight for true love, right? So now I'm considering making my own bouquet using fake peonies. I've found a few sites that offer the "true touch" faux flowers but I'm a little nervous about actually trying this. I would love to get some feedback and suggestions on making your own bouquet and even helpful websites (I will be digging through Bee archives for DIY bouquets!). I still have no clue what I'm doing for my bridesmaid's bouquets but I do know I want theirs to be deep red flowers that compliment the peony. Help on that will be much appreciated as well!

Maybe when it's all said and done I will have my dream bouquet AND save tons of money in the process! I found a site that provides incredibly realistic fake peonies. They sell them as bunches of cupped or full blown blossoms which I think adds to the realism. Here's an example:

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At $36 for a set of six stems, this choice seems a bit high since I'll probably have to buy 3 or 4 sets to make a full, lush bouquet. And that doesn't include tax and shipping! Although I'm no florist, I have a feeling that trying to get fresh peonies shipped from some remote place far away for a November wedding would be a tad bit pricier. At least my fake flowers won't die and they'll make a great centerpiece for our home after the wedding!

So what do you think? Should I go through with the DIY fake flower bouquet of peonies? I'm waiting on your feedback before placing my order!

Homemade Centerpieces & Lighting

I've decided that I'm going to make my centerpieces a DIY project. I'm just not big on floral arrangements because quite frankly, flowers die. Of course if I had an unlimited budget, I'd be more for elaborate floral arrangements in a heartbeat.

So my idea for the centerpieces is to focus on mood lighting. I want a soft, romantic feel to the reception hall. And since I have a slight love for vintage/antique items, I think I've found my choice as the focal point for the tables. I'll be doing a combination of lanterns, tea lights, floating candles, candelabras, and submerged flowers (preferably orchids).

Here's the overall "feel" I'm going for:



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Every other table will have either a lantern surrounded by tea lights, the floating candles and submerged flowers in mason jars, or a vintage-style candelabra to keep with the southern theme.

One of the clear perks of making my own centerpieces is getting to keep my creations after the wedding. I will be able to use them as home decor, sell what I don't need, or even dress them up as gifts for friends! Not to mention I'll save tons of moolah on the floral bill!

Here's some pictures of the items I have my eye on:

These are the main lanterns I want for the reception site. I can get enough of these to decorate the whole space for less than $50! They'll look super cute after the wedding as indoor and/or outdoor decor for our home.

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I love the "southern" nostalgia of mason jars. And I've found cases of a dozen for only $8.99 online! The submerged flowers will be in mason jars as well as tea lights and/or floating candles. I might do ribbons in my colors like this:



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In a perfect world, I'd be able to catch fireflies to display in some of the jars like this. I also love the tea lights around jar. Simple but enchanting.



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Here's what I'm talking about with the submerged orchids and floating candles. Just imagine these in mason jars.



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I also love candles that float in a sea of water pearls. I want to up the romantic appeal by using vintage inspired candle holders. Is that yard sale/flea market rummaging I see in my future?



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Don't you just LOVE the effect created using floating candles in water pearls?



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I found battery operated LED paper lanterns online for only $5 a piece. I'm going to scatter these along the ceiling of the hall to compliment the mini lights already in the site (click here for pics from Savannah Station). Here's an idea of what it'll look like (but I'll have far fewer lanterns):

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I absolutely LOVE fancy chandeliers. But since it would be outrageously expensive to buy and install some, I'll do the next best option: elaborate candelabras dripping with crystals! This will be a very cheap DIY compared to buying them. I can spray paint the candelabra and attach the crystals (sold a dime a dozen online) myself. Anyone who knows me knows I have to have some "glitter & sparkle" somewhere in the reception, so this will be it!

This one is only $14 on Ebay! I might not have to make them after all! How adorable is this?!?



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Last but not least, I want to incorporate my favorite pattern, damask, on the tables. Instead of doing it in black and white, I'll probably have the pattern in cream tones to go along with our color scheme and add a little class to the otherwise very laid-back decor.

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I know that it seems like a lot, but it'll basically allow for about 3 different table themes (for our 10 tables) throughout the room instead of cookie cutters of one style. I like the idea of mismatched but still complimentary decor for different tables.

Oh, I just filed my taxes today and I'll be using some of that money to put down deposits on vendors (finally!). I'm excited to actually start paying for things instead of just daydreaming about what I want. :)