Map It Out: Another Check Off the Labrador DIY List

Bet you've been wondering where I've been lately? In Busytown, that's where. I started my final semester of classes (yay!), landed a second job (wtf was I thinking?!), and worked near full-time last week at my original job; all while continuing to plan this little wedding of ours.

We are *thisclose* to our 2 month mark and I am about to $hit bricks full of anxiety. No, I'm not being dramatic. My stomach churns just thinking about how little time we have left. But at the same time, I'm soooo ready for the day to be here! Conflicted much?

Somehow during a week full of 64 hours at work, 11 hours of class, and a coed wedding shower (pics soon!), I found the time to crank out our DIY wedding maps! I never really considered maps a priority, but after seeing Mrs. Ballet Flat make it look easy as pie, I decided to give it a try and shocked myself with the result. Here's what I came up with in PowerPoint:

Click on map for more detail!

To be completely honest, I'm no stranger to PowerPoint. Mrs. BF's tutorial was definitely thorough and easy to follow, but I'm also not a beginner. While the logistics were easy to me, it was still a tedious task! It took a few hours here and there to complete (mostly because I'm a perfectionist). Newcomers will have a tougher and longer time with it. But don't be too discouraged! If you have time to play around with it, you'll end up learning and getting better. That's how I learned PP: totally self-taught!

I won't repeat Mrs. BF's steps, but here's a run through of my project from start to finish. First up, the Google map of Savannah! "A" is our ceremony site and "B" is our reception site.


Then I traced the main roads and Savannah River. I added icons to represent event locations and lodging. I found all the icons through Google Images. I tinted them pink by double clicking on the icon, then clicking on "picture", then "recolor".


Here's my first attempt at removing the map in the background. As you can tell from the final map, I changed a few things because they didn't look quite right.


After some serious tweaking (what I spent most of my time on), I had my official map! I added the compass rose and map symbols and steam ship to give it an extra special touch. The title font is "Scriptina" free from Dafont.com and matches our save the dates! The font even coordinates with our invites, which I'll reveal very soon now that they're finished being designed and are on their way to be printed up and shipped out! :D

Our maps are more on the "cutesy" side than the super informative side. But our guests will have our wedding website for more thorough directions plus actual Savannah visitor maps in their OOT bags. I'm just hoping they'll use this map as a supplement that provides a visual pinpoint on where all the festivities will go down!


The perfectionist in me isn't quite happy with them yet. I'm stuck on the title of the map:

"The My Last Name - His Last Name Wedding
Events Map"

I think we're keeping the first line, but I'm not sure that I'm feeling the second part (Event Map). Should I keep it or change it to one of the following? [Poll]

• Event Map
• Events Location Map
• Events & Accommodations Map
  
• Just our names in the first line and "Wedding Events Map" in the second line.
  
• Just use "The My Last Name - His Last Name Wedding" title and that's it.
  
• None of the above. I'm leaving a comment with a suggestion!
  

Breathing a sigh of re"wreath"...

Sorry about the lame title. Mr. Lab came up with it because I couldn't think of one. :P

Anyhoo, I'm breathing a sigh of relief (if you couldn't decipher the title) because I've finished all my ceremony decor! After I completed the hanging magnolia mason jars, I got to work on a way to dress up our gazebo "altar":

Ignore the weird yellowing. It doesn't exist in real life, just wacky camera stuff.

I really wanted to keep the ceremony decor simple as not to distract from the natural beauty of Savannah's Whitfield square. When I saw Mrs. Yorkie's DIY monogram wreaths, I knew I had just found my gazebo decor. A mossy wreath is PERFECT in a square surrounded by mossy oak trees! Thank goodness for all the Bees who have done the legwork with their comprehensive tutorials! Making my own wreath was a snap! :D

Following Mrs. Yorkie's instructions, I gathered all my supplies. I started by adding glitter to my soon-to-be new last name initial. I want to add our first name initials using smaller letters, but Michael's was all out of the "L"s and "C"s when I went! But it'll be easy to add those later. Also, don't worry about buying a "flat" round wreath. Once it's covered in moss, it'll look just as round and full as the extruded ones!

Because this project is best done outdoors, make sure to have a can of "Off" nearby to ward off hungry mosquitoes!

I added one step. Instead of just pinning my moss to the foam wreath, I sprayed it (and the wreath) with the same spray adhesive I used to coat my letter. I also used an 18" wreath instead of a 12" one since it's going to be hanging on the gazebo and not being carried by little ones.

I used the cheap Walmart moss. It is a bit harder to work with than sheet moss, but it did the trick and saved me a bunch of money at the same time!


After the wreath was completely covered in moss, I pinned it in places I felt it needed extra support. I had one spot where the moss didn't match in color, but I decided I'd just use that area as the place for the flowers, so no worries!


I tried using the twisted wire for my "stakes" but they kept bending when I tried to push it into the wreath. I had left over stems from all my flower projects, so I just used them as sturdier stakes. I trimmed them so the wire was exposed and then hot glued them in place of the floral wire (after clipping off that wire).


Then came the really fun part: adding the flowers and initial! I used the same glitter as Mrs. Yorkie and opted for ivory hydrangea and a pink hollyhock as the accents.



This lovely wreath will hang on the gazebo above us as we recite our vows! I'm taking it on my next trip to Savannah to make sure we can secure it on the gazebo ahead of time, so I may add a bow later using leftover satin ribbon. Thanks Mrs. Yorkie for the inspiration and tutorial!


Cost Breakdown:

18 inch styrofoam wreath: $9.99
1 hydrangea stem: $5.99
1 hollyhock stem: $8.49 (on sale from $16.49)
4 packs of Walmart moss: $1.97 each
Floral wire (barely used): $1.99
4 x 6 wooden letter: $2.49
Spray adhesive: $6.49
Martha Stewart glitter (only used a fraction of the container): $4.99

Grand total including tax: $51.69

The price was a little more than I expected to spend, but at least it'll hang on our front door for years to come after the wedding!

Now all of my ceremony decor is finished! Can't you just picture this setting with a simple mossy wreath on the gazebo and an aisle lined with magnolias in hanging mason jars? *Swoon*

All that's left ceremony set up-wise is choosing the chairs for the guests and a table for the refreshments and program basket to sit on. I already know that I'm doing a wooden chair to blend in as much as possible with the scenery. It's going to be one of these two options depending solely on budget:

Sources

You Are Cordially Invited...

...to help Miss Lab create her invitations!

I'm stumped hive. I'm closing in fast on the recommended two month mark to send out invitations and all I have are a few scrapbook papers that caught my eye while I was killing time in a Michael's. I'm slowly starting down the short path to full-blown wedding freak-out mode. *gulp!* Help?

Okay, here's what I've got:

All my Michael's finds in our wedding colors.

I love this shimmery patterned pink paper probably the most.

This is probably my second favorite paper of the lot.

The more I look at this one, the more I'm not really feeling it.

This is a closeup of the solid cream paper. The color of the paper is truer in the first photo.

Here's the chocolate brown paper's detailing. I like this because it has a subtle damask feel to it.

I have no idea where to start. Which paper to use, how to combine them, whether to use these at all or to get additional paper...*sigh*

I was also hoping to add some kind of detail from our ceremony or reception sites to the invitations as well. Like a gazebo or train motif:

Source

As far as the "look" I'm going for, I want something simple with a romantic, southern feel. I love love love Miss Cowboy Boot's invitations:



I won't have an entire suite like this because I'm not doing response cards (just RSVP at our wedding website or by phone) or a map. But some of the invites will have a rehearsal dinner invitation included. So maybe I can incorporate some of my/your ideas into one or the other?

Or maybe I should just cave in and buy some invitations? Anyone seen anything that reminds you of what I'm looking for? They've gotta be inexpensive!